I was filled with joy and confidence when I boarded my 8:30am boat, the most unlikely of events after having been certain I would not be able to get my ATM card back in time to leave Luang Probang.
I felt happy to be on this long slow boat that would take myself and 30 others to Pak Beng, a 9-hour day away. It was a gorgeous and sunny day, and I felt moved by the gloriousness of life, my opportunity for such amazing travel, as well as the guardian-angel-like nature of my recent encounters with the Lao Locals.
After the boat had been going a while, I decided to explore the extend of the vehicle. I walked to the back of the boat, and was about to walk by a Lao man seated to a big breakfast on the ground, when he motioned for me to join him. I sat down and shared his meal of sticky rice, sausage, and some fermented fish sauce-smelling vegetable dish (which, I might add, was quite tasty in all of its fermented funkyness), as he showed me how to roll the sticky rice into a ball and use it as a scooping implement for the food. We laughed and smiled over this shared meal and my clumsiness of trying to eat like a local as our only means of communication. Five or ten minutes into this experience, he surprised me quite a bit by trying to kiss me! I put my hands up and shook my head to indicate "no", and through some gesturing to clarify, he understood, and all was well, if a bit awkward. Then he told me he loved me. I thanked him. He told me again that he loved me, and made some sort of gesture that I should perhaps say it back. I smiled, thanked him again, and bowed to him with the Lao-way of prayer-hands to say 'Kawp-jai' (thank you) and made my way back to my seat, head-shaking with a smile.
The rest of the morning was spent enjoying the sweet views along the Mekong River, talking a fair deal to an Irishman named Phelim, and sitting outside on the front of the boat around dusk, chatting with some other passengers. and drinking some steaming hot peppermint tea. It was quite lovely. That evening around 6pm we arrived in Pak Beng, a sweet little villlage where I was greeted for the first time in my life by a man holding a sign with my name on it! Phelim and I headed up to the guesthouse, got some excellent dinner at an Indian restaurant after walking through the quiet town, and got a good nights sleep in preparation for the next day, which would be our second and final all-day boat ride, to Huay Xai.
Early the next morning I took a short walk through the village before breakfast, and then we were off on our boat once again. This time I wound up getting quite involved in an animated and all-day conversation with a young Englishman named Dan. We talked about everything under the sun, and music quickly came into the picture. He had with him a mini-guitar, and we spent all afternoon trading songs back and forth, which eventually led to playing with and for the locals at the front of the boat, as well as some guitar lessons for a young and enthusiastic Lao guy with the sweetest smile. By the end of the day, Dan and I were interspersed with a bunch of locals, laughing, sharing photos, trading cell phone numbers. This was especially special because the beginning of each day of boat-riding, locals rode up front separate from the foreigners who sat together in the back. With music and enthusiasm, we had bridged the gap. It was a rich and full day on the boat, and I was so happy that I had decided to take this relatively famous mode of travel heading west on the Mekong.
When we arrived in Huay Xai, Dan, Phelim and I made our way to a guesthouse together, along with a Dutch couple who was going to be on my 3-day jungle trek the next day. That evening we met up with a large group from the boat for dinner, and had some delicious traditional Lao food over some loud and boisterous conversation and laughs. It had been a great two days, and this was just the transportation to get to my next adventure! The next morning- leave for the jungle of Bokeo, Laos, for trekking, gibbon-spotting, and ziplining through trees to our treehouse accommodation!
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