Christmas on the Mekong

Mea Culpa - I'm backtracking again, and there's no hiding it this time, Christmas was indeed over two weeks ago! When I last wrote, we were in Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. The night before we left, by pure chance as we were wandering around the night food market, we bumped into another family who heard our accents and said, "Mais c'est du Quebecois!" So, we started talking and ended up having supper together - it turns out they are from Saint Bruno (salut Michele, Charles, Nicolas et Florence!) and are also travelling around the world! Julien was thrilled to finally have someone his own age to share his stories with (and us too : ) of course ) What a lovely unexpected surprise. The next morning we had breakfast together and then went off in opposite directions, however we may meet up again in New Zealand.
From Chiang Mai we went to Chiang Rai, a few hours further north, where the highlight was renting mopeds! As you can see, it doesn't take much to make me excited, but this was actually the first time I ever tried, and within fifteen minutes, I got the hang of it, and was quite proud of myself. In typical Thai fashion, we piled five people on two mopeds (noone batted an eye), and insisted on having helmets, which seems to be somewhat optional here. We toured through the countryside, following the Mae Nam Kok river, out to a small tribal village where we had lunch. The next day we went to a "modern" temple, Wat Rong Khun, all white with glittery mirror mosaic, described in the LonelyPlanet as a frosted birthaday cake on fire! Quite different from your run of the mill Wat.
We then took the bus up to Chiang Khong where we crossed the Thai-Lao border. This has to be the absolute most casual border I have ever seen. On the Thai side, you get your passport stamped confirming your departure date in a small kiosk on the side of the dirt road, walk down to the river where a small motorboat takes you across the Mekong, and then, on the Lao side, in Huay Xai, you fill out a couple of forms, pay for the visa, and voila, you can stay for 30 days.

N.B. Avis aux interesses: si vous avez deja lu la version francaise de notre Noel sur le Mekong, ceci est ma version en anglais.

We spent the night in Huay Xai before heading off on our two day "cruise" down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. Now before you think we decided to splurge on a luxury boat trip, let me give you a few details: the boat is a long wooden boat jam packed with wooden benches, just wide enough for two people, and a cushion wide enough for one and a half people! There were about eighty people on board, mostly tourists, but a few monks and locals as well. Despite being rather squished, it was quite charming, and the scenery was beautiful: lush vegetation covering mountains on both sides of the river, small villages on stilts here and there, and gardens all along the sandy riverbanks. It's amazing what they can grow, from what I could tell, corn, leafy lettuce-type stuff, and peanuts! Julien had a good book and was incredibly patient, it was sunny and peaceful, the day was lovely.
We stayed overnight in Pak Beng, about halfway along the route and got back on the boat in the morning, Christmas Day. Only this time, the boat was even smaller, with just as many people, smaller benches and no cushions. Several times we stopped along the way to pick up locals, bags of rice and baskets of chickens (which were hoisted onto the roof). The second day was not as sunny, and the wind was quite nippy, so after 8 hours, we were looking forward to getting off the boat and having a nice hot shower. Well, about an hour before reaching Luang Prabang, the boat broke down and the captain managed to bring it safely to the riverbank, where a local fisherman tied us to a rock. We all got off the boat to stretch our legs while waiting for another boat to come, and then were informed that, in fact, it was too late, the boats couldn't navigate at night, so we would just have to stay there! There was no village in sight (not that they would have room for a hundred people) so a couple of guys (of course) with Julien happily helping out, built a fire on the riverbank. We pulled out our sleeping bags and spent the night on the beach, singing by the fire, sharing stories with other travellers and sharing the instant noodles and beer the captain managed to scrounge up for us. Some people slept on the boat, but I don't think they had quite as much fun. As Jean Francois said in his message, Christmas on the Mekong was really Christmas on the Mekong! Not what we expected, but one we'll certainly remember!