Marketing 101: get a puppy

Day 40-41 – On the Mekong river

When I bought my slow boat ticket Sunday afternoon, the salesman confirmed that I would be picked up at my hotel at 7:30. Wanting to avoid rushing at the last minute, I planned to be ready at 7:15. So when there was a knock on my door at 7:00, my bag almost ready, having just to finish dressing and putting my last stuff in the correct place, I was a bit put out. Well, the tuk-tuk waited.

The next guys we picked up were finishing their breakfast, so I guess we all got different times.

The boat that first day was large, comfortable, with ample sitting: double seats obviously taken from cars, put on stands, but not nailed to the deck: they can be rearranged, and indeed one has to be careful when leaning on them, they tend to topple.

I had bought some food to take away with me, forewarned, as they sell only basic stuff, and the hotel had given me bananas since they serve their breakfast at 8:00. I talked a bit with my fellow passengers, especially a French economy teacher (very, very chatty) who travels a lot.

We travelled upstream, avoiding the occasional mudbank and rock, watching eddies and fishing bamboo poles and life around the river. As promised, the boat will stop in the middle of nowhere and either let local people disembark or take on new passengers. At one point, we were expected, and a huge pile of supplies was unloaded briskly through the windows along the front third of the boat.

We arrived at around 6:30 in Pakbeng, where touts vie for the attention of tourists. Marketing lesson 101: get a puppy. A young, fluffy, adorable puppy, that will bag you at least half of the tourists who hadn’t pre-booked their stay. Cut-throat prices are also an advantage, but we followed the puppy’s master like the Pied Piper.

Diner and breakfast were taken on a terrace overlooking the river, with elephant on the opposite bank in the morning. We ordered our take-away lunch on the evening for the day after, and I was graced with extra protein, ants in my sticky rice. Yummy.

The next day, we were dropped off to the next boat, slightly smaller. We were of course reunited with the previous day’s travellers, the French family with the three young children, the British couple, the Australian woman, the German guy going also around the world, the Dutch couple, the French economy teacher…

The high point of the day was the engine damage, probably due to hitting a rock underwater. We went straight to the bank, the boat was tied, and while the engine was examined, a few fast boats were summoned, negotiations ensued, and a bunch of local people and their supplies were carted off, presumably to their destination.

After some to-and-froing of people with tools, a few clanking noises, the occasional application of a hammer to a piece of machinery, we were back on our journey. We lost no more than an hour and a half.

Here is a selection of pictures taken throughout the journey, with the occasional commentary.

We arrived at nightfall at our destination, I promptly slid on the mud while trying to get up the bank, that’s one pair of pants that went straight to the laundry bag, and I found my hostel. I booked a bus ticket for Thailand tomorrow morning and should arrive at Chiang Rai around midday.