Houessay-Pak Beng, 1st day on the Mekong

- January 14 : waking up at dawn, nice hot shower (it is true that the night was cool) and English breakfast. Some daylight photos of the pretty guesthouse. Minibus to the Mekong river to take the canoe across the river to Houessay.

Arriving there, "visa on arrival," it takes some time because the three men in the office are not very excited, about 40 minutes waiting. Then tuk-tuk to the pier where the slow boats are and waiting on the terrace of a small business before embarking time (11:30 instead of 10:30 finally). I make some change here (i got kips) because in Pakbeng they do not accept Baths.

First Lao beer and dried bananas for snacking. The guide led us down to the boat around 11 am saying that it is better to arrive early to board but in fact the other operators have already boarded in, so there are just a few places to choose from. It is a little tight, and it will delay for sure, we are already announcing the arrival around 20h. It's a bit of a mess boarding, it looks like they are back as many people as possible. Finally there is room for almost everyone.

Here we go, about 11:40 for a 6:30 hours ride with stops. The guide book was right, we see beautiful scenery on the Mekong, but what we see inside are Westerners who drank Laobeer, photo support.

It is good, there are plenty of places where the river is tighter and forms rapids, but the limited speed makes the ride very pleasant. I'm on the rear end of the boat so it's a bit noisy, so I put my MP3 music in the ears loud enough to cover the noise. Finally we arrive early, just before 6 pm at dusk. It is time to arrive because an Englishman, we'll call him "Beer Sponge", since he drank Beer Lao all along the way, starts fighting with his girlfriend and really goes nuts with her.

I follow the upward movement of the others through the village to find a guesthouse. I'm going to visit one, it looks pretty good for the price, rooms without charm but beautiful house made of teak. I rest a bit and plug my MP3 and my phone, and then I take a walk down the main street where I'll seek where to have a little dinner. I met two Brazilian, Felipe and Davi, with whom I walk a bit. They are in the room next to mine. I suggested we eat together at a restaurant just in front of the guesthouse that looks pretty good.

The time they take showers I take this opportunity to make a backup of my photos taken today on my netbook and when I finished I go straight to the restaurant to join them. They have already settled with two English girls and invite me to join them. I have a local dish with beef and zucchini sauce with a basket of sticky rice, and a very good Lao beer of course, the large size (the only available anyway, 640 ml).

We learn that girls are both teachers of English in China in Shanghai. One is called Thrusha, comes from South Africa and has an Indian father. She had finished her contract as a teacher and is travelling with her friend and then returns in late January at home in Johannesburg. The other girl is Irish, and is called Claire and begins her contract.

After eating, it's about the hour of curfew (23h) we go a bit more up the road in the only bar in town where you listen to loud music, and which closes to midnight. We're been proposed Ganja and Opium, but nobody cares. We discuss in English of course, trying to hear ourselves over the music. I returned shortly before midnight because I must get up at dawn if I want to move to pick good seats in the boat.

Important thing I just celebrated my one year of abstinence from cigarettes in sharing the whole evening with smokers.