The Mighty Mekong

We’ve just spent an amazing week on this beautiful wooden boat visiting villages and waterfalls along the Mekong river in Northern Laos. The villages were all quite different from one another, being made up of different ethnic groups found all over the country. When describing the people of Laos they used to classify them by where they lived. For example the Hmong live in the high mountains. Other groups live in the lowland valleys etc. But that simply isn’t true anymore. All the villages we visited were located on the banks of the river, and they were all different groups. The boat itself was the highlight of the week I have to say. Pure luxury. I’d never experienced that before. They turn down your beds at night, clean your shoes when you come on board and leave them by the door, serve you refreshing drinks after you go on an excursion! Ok, I see why people like this kind of thing. Mostly it was peaceful on the river. No cars, motorbikes, pollution, noise. I was surprised at how little people actually seem to use the river anymore. Every year more and more places are connected by road. Sure they still fish, but many environmental factors are changing to make the catch less and less all the time. Our cruise director gave us a copy of a documentary film that we can watch once we get home about the effects of dams on the Mekong. We got really lucky on this cruise because only 4 passengers signed up to go! The other couple was from Switzerland and you couldn’t have picked nicer people to travel with! One night we all had a big BBQ on the sandbank in front of one of the villages and the head of the village, his wife, and a few other individuals (and I think every kid in the village) came to join us. We couldn’t speak the same language, but good food, local whiskey called laolao, and some music, and we were all buddies in no time! It was kind of a magical night actually. I will cherish the memories for a long time to come.