The slow boat from huai Xai to Luang Prabang would take 2 days with one overnight stop in Pak Beng for the night. It was pretty cool, with some lovely views. The Mekong itelf is quite a large river, even in the dry season, which we were in the middle of. In many places its banks are lined with huge cliff faces and rock. The water level was quite low because of the dry season and we had to experience whitewater in many parts. This was a pretty scary experience, considering we were in a 50ft long metal boat. The driver would pull crazy handbrake turns in the middle of the river to skid around large rockfaces ... slowing down didn't seem to be an option, although I could kind of see his point - I didn't fancy navigating this at night.
The boat held about 150 people and only sold Beer Lao at the back on one of the day. I was also the only phrase that the girl selling it understood - Some of the English guys starting saying "It's beer Lao O'Clock" to everyone after efforts to get the time of day from her.
The wooden benches on the boat were very uncomfortable. We were smart enough to have bought cushions before going on though. A long time to be sitting on a bench like this though! 7 and 9 hours on each day! Really nice trip and I'd recommend to everyone to do it once (aside from the fact that there is really no other means to get to Luang Prabang from this direction).
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