After spending one night at the fabulous Baan Sakuna Hotel in Chiang Khong, Thailand, it was time for our two day cruise down the Mekong River with Nagi of Mekong. The Mekong River is the longest in southeast Asia, from its origins in Tibet it flows through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Our two-day itinerary aboard Nagi of Mekong started in Huay Xai, Laos, with an overnight in Pak Beng before ending in Luang Prabang. At $370 for two, it’s not an inexpensive cruise, but it was worth it.
Mekong River cruises are fairly popular. Consider your options carefully as the starting day of the week and direction of travel are very important. Different cruise operators start on different days of the week, as do up and down river journeys. Pricing ranges from a few hundred dollars per person to a few thousand dollars. Make sure the cruise you want starts on the day of the week you want.
A van arrived at the Baan Sakuna Hotel to pick us up at 7:30 AM on Wednesday. I think everyone staying at the hotel was on a cruise with Nagi of Mekong. The company has three boats. We were given stickers to wear, assigning us to the orange boat. There were also blue and yellow boats. Our boat was not quite full, with 35 of the 40 available seats occupied. I’d guess the two other boats were similar in capacity.
So our morning starting in a herd of over 100 people being moved from Chaing Khong through immigration into Laos and to the Huay Xai boat dock by dozens of passenger vans. At the same time. The process took two and a half hours. We were among the last ones through.
To enter and exit Thailand your fingerprints are electronically scanned by a small machine. Put your fingers on the glass and its done in a few seconds. Unless you’re Stephanie. She had the worst time trying to get the machine to read her fingerprints. It took her several minutes.
The (very serious looking) immigration control officer got so frustrated that when Stephanie finally got her fingerprints read, and turned to leave, the officer leaned forward and yelled “wash your hands”. It was pretty damn funny.
After passing through immigration control in Thailand we were loaded onto busses that transport folks across the Mekong River to immigration control in Laos.
Most of the people going through immigration control that morning were on a Nagi cruise. Only a few were not. I felt sorry for those folks because the cruise crowd really bottled up the processing and turned it into a crawl, especially getting into Laos.
While a few folks obtained Laos e-visas in advance, almost everyone obtained a tourist visa on arrival. Immigration control in Laos charged a 40 ฿ (about $1.25) per person processing fee plus a $40 per person visa fee (or the equivalent in Thai Baht or Euros). And you actually must provide an extra passport photograph. (We brought a couple from home, but apparently you can have a photograph made on site for an extra fee.)
After passing through immigration control there is a money exchange counter where we converted our leftover Thai Baht into Lao Kip. The fee seemed a bit steep (about 10%, I’d guess), but we felt more comfortable having some local money on hand.
All in all the folks with Nagi did a great job shepherding everyone through immigration.
Finally we were ready to cruise. The boats pushed off and began heading downstream about 10:00 AM. Water, tea, coffee, oranges, bananas, and lunch were provided. Cokes, beer, and chips were available for purchase at reasonable prices.
Everyone was assigned a table on the boat. Basically there are two rows of booths with seating for four. We were traveling with another couple and were assigned to the same booth. Otherwise groups of two were seemingly matched up at random without regard for age or nationality.
The only negative to the assigned seating is the sun. As the boat generally travels southwest, booths on the right (starboard) side are partially or wholly in the sun for much of the journey. Those of the left (port) side are in shade. We were in the sun, and did not mind it because the temperatures were cool. But it could be brutal in warmer weather.
Activities on the boat were pretty much limited to sightseeing, reading books, playing cards, or listening to podcasts. Bring something to do. The scenery is great, but it does not change much. Mountains and hills, of course. Sand banks, large rocks, cows, and water buffalos. Other boats and fisherman. Several areas with people sifting for gold, a lot of commercial mining, and one dam under construction.
Mid-afternoon on the first day we stopped at a “traditional village”. Lot of huts, pigs, and chickens. Several kids who either expected handouts, or were taught to beg for them, followed us around. The idea is to learn a bit about life and issues in these remote villages, walk around the perimeter, and leave after about 45 minutes.
It’s probably hard to be a “traditional village” when you have several large groups of foreigners tromping through every afternoon. One lady in our group openly complained about the stop, muttering “I don’t go to the zoo, why would I go here”. Good point. You are allowed to stay on the boat if you prefer.
At the end of day one we arrived in Pak Beng about 5:15 PM. Seven or eight similarly sized boats were already at the dock. A truck took us to our hotel, the Sanctuary Pak Beng Lodge, which was included in our cruise package. Alternatively, you have the option of booking the cruise only and finding a room at one of the numerous cheap hotels and hostels in Pak Beng. As soon as you step off the boat people will be there trying to sell you a hotel room.
Sanctuary Pak Beng is on the side of a hill, and has great views of the river and nature park. Unfortunately it was getting dark when we arrived. It would have been nice to have had an hour or two in daylight to enjoy the view with a beer or three. We opted to have dinner at the hotel ($12 per person) largely because we were too lazy to walk into town. Breakfast the next morning is free.
Pak Beng is basically a small tourist stop over, several hotels and a few restaurants. That’s it.
Day two began at 7:30 AM, when we were picked up at the hotel and driven back down to the dock. It was fairly cold on the river. Thankfully blankets were available on the boat for use. I think almost everyone grabbed one.
Just as the boats were shoving off, an elephant in the nature park across the river showed up at river’s edge. Apparently that is a near daily occurrence, probably for the tourists to see.
There were no stops during the morning. We probably had about six hours of uninterrupted cruise time. Mid-afternoon we made two stops. Both are near enough to Luang Prabang to get a lot of day tourists as well.
The first stop was at Pak Ou Caves, two caves (one large, one small) showcasing hundreds of small buddha statutes. To reach the caves you have to climb up dozens of very steep steps, all the while jostling among hundreds of tourists on those same steps.
Honestly we didn’t think it was worth the effort.
The second stop was at a Monk’s village where whiskey and woven linen products are sold. We had no plans to buy anything and, after some deliberation, decided to skip the stop, stay on the boat, and play cards.
We were given about 45 to 60 minutes at each stop to see the sights, such that they are. You probably only need 15 to 20 minutes at each stop. The rest of the time is needed to fight through the sheer number of other tourists there.
Less than an hour after leaving the village, we arrived in Luang Prabang about 5:00 PM. I don’t know what we were expecting, but it was not a rudimentary landing site covered by several inches of fine dirt. Not a great first impression of Luang Prabang. Passenger vans were waiting to take everyone to their hotel. About thirty minutes after walking off the boat, we were at our hotel, Cold River.
Garrett and Stephanie
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Which river cruise company did you book through?
We booked with Nagi of Mekong, direct through its website.