Slow boat down the Mekong river

In Japan we took the bullet train. In Laos we took the complete opposite, the slow boat. The bullet train is modern, fast, punctual, silent and comfortable, the slow boat in Laos is the opposite to all those things. The distance that the bullet train can do in a few hours took us two full days on the boat.

The first day our boat was half empty and we had plenty of space. On the second day they merged the passengers from two boats onto one and there was not a single seat to spare. The roof of the boat was filled with bags and the only place to escape the crowd was the noisy diesel filled engine room. When Erika had enough of squeezing between hundreds of other backpackers this is where she headed.

It was quite an experience to travel through the mountainous jungle landscape along the Mekong river for two full days. All we could see was thick forests and occasionally a remote village or temple. Despite the beautiful scenery we could not wait to get off the boat at the end of the second day. We had just had enough.