Mekong River Respite

Our Mekong River trip aboard Nagi of Mekong starts with a lengthy, but orderly border crossing process.  Thailand, Laos, and China are cooperating to build bridges and crossing to expedite ASEAN commerce.  China is shouldering ahead.  The Chinese are unpopular here as they are perceived as rude and disrespectful of sacred ways.  But enough politics.  We are taking the slow boat on a two day journey to Luang Prabang, Laos.

Every boat has a carefully tended shrine at it's bow.  Kha (like "cat") is our leader and gives us occaisonal explanations.

Our boat is comfy and there are blankets to wrap up in - it is quite chilly with the morning breeze.  Coffee and fruit are set up on a buffet table in the stern.

The scenery along the trip is a study of contrasts.  It is sometimes lush and tropical, other times more scrubby and sandy.  There are also dramatic rock formations along the way.  We see water buffalo, goats, elephants put to work, and fisherman with long bamboo poles.

There are women doing their wash and kids playing in the water.  The kids wave while the adults look on seriously.  Our boat departed late so we will only make one village stop

Kha prepares us for our stop at a Hmong village.  The villagers avoid town life and subsist almost entirely on barter.  They grow sticky rice and harvest wood.  If they want a TV, they trade a pig.  A bag of sticky rice might be traded for a used t-shirt.

This girl is one of many who approach us to buy bracelets for about 60 cents each.  One little girl takes a liking to Lisa and teaches her the Hmong words cow, pig, and chicken.  We buy a few bracelets, but the primitive living conditions make me feel uneasy about out visit.

Kha tells us later that the Hmong children do go to school to learn to read and write.  They are not allowed to go to school until they are old enough to reach an arm over their heads and cover their opposite ears with their hands.  This is usually about age 7.  They may attend school until age 14 or 15, but then they marry and go to work.  They produce large families, often 9 or 10 children.

Back on the boat, the weather has warmed up and the wind has died down enough for us to play Spades without our cards flying off into the river.  Lisa and I get a good lead, but then the men wipe us out and we fall way behind.  The game will carry on next day, so we hope to improve our strategy.

I think that happy grin on John's face has something to do with their score.  We are told that we are being put up in a different hotel than the others on the boat. This turns out be yet another bit of luck.

We each have a wooden bungalow perched high over the river with a great view.  

We love our room and its woven bamboo walls, and shuttered windows that open to expansive river views.

Our boat is just one of many that have landed for the night.  There will be 19 eventually, most dispensing Westerners into the tiny village.

John and Ben discover a rustic bocci ball court.  They use a plastic bottle cap as the marker ball.

We take a little tour of the village.  The village business people have figured out what Westerners want.  There are rows of Lays potato chips, Costco-like muffins, jars of peanut butter, etc.  There are also little food stands selling bbq meat skewers.  Kha has warned us they cook everything they can find, so no  guarantee that what they say the meat is, is true.  

In the twilight, a group of kids are piling up empty boxes and jumping on them from a little ledge.  They do this over and over, re-piling the squished boxes and laughing with glee.

The sunset over the Mekong is brief, but lovely.  We have another day ahead of lazily chugging down river.  A lunch of pumpkin, fish and spinach is promised.  We will see two more ethnic villages and finish that Spades tournament.  Wish me and Lisa luck.