Sleepless in Chiang Khong and Pakbeng

We arrived in Chiang Khong on the Thai banks of the river Mekong. It was a beautiful sight with the sun getting low over the horizon and some of the hills hidden behind clouds. We ate our dinner at the guest house, read a bit about Laos and thought about getting some sleep so we could get an early start to the day. The night was difficult because the guesthouse was poorly designed and everyone talking around the rooms could be clearly heard. So we were rudely awoken after a few hours sleep by the loud mobile phone coversations of some drunk fellows. It was hard to fall back asleep because there were loud periodic noises and the roosters began crowing far before dawn. One tough night in Chiang Khong.

The next morning after departing officially with Thai immigration and registering with Laos immigration we took the slowboat from Houay Xai, Laos. Before we got on the boat was a good three feet out of the water and by the time the whole boat was loaded it looked precariously close to the surface, just 18 inches above the water. The boat was pretty uncomfortable with wooden benches and was completely painful after a few hours. There was yet another day to go because the trip takes two days. The scenery was stunning the whole way, from the get go. The mountains were lush and green with beautiful vegetation, trees in interesting shapes and hanging vines and creepers giving them a surreal rock like shape. Often, just behind the hills were taller mountains, parts of which were shrouded in mist and clouds with peaks breaking through to reveal their enormity. There were great riverine beaches and massive rock formations that had been shaped by the furious waters of the river. The beauty of the river valley was truly stunning and we were thrilled with our decision to have taken the boat.

The boat arrived in Pakbeng around 6:00. We had already booked a guest house in Houay Xai before getting on the boat. There was someone to meet us at the ferry who took us to the guest house. It looked a little dingy and the sheets looked like they were seldom changed. We had sheets with us so we thought nothing of it and said to ourselves that we were only going to be there for a day. There was barely any electricity in the place. Luckily we were armed to the teeth with flash lights and so we went on and got on with dinner and a few drinks. We eventually returned to the room and then went to sleep. Well, I did. Apparently the beers (640 ml) did me some good and I fell asleep right away. Maria on the other hand was wide awake, partly due to my snoring, the strange sounds of the geckos and some kind of sizeable rodent gnawing on god-knows-what in the room. Around 2:00 AM I awoke due to this symphony of strange sounds and Maria mentioned that there were other living things, not approved by us, in our room. I tried to sleep again but now my instinct for protection and self preservation would not let me sleep. I tried not to think about the fact that I wanted to pee.

The symphony in the room turned into a cacophony in my head and finally I relented and decided to examine the room. Armed with two flashlights, just in case, one needed to be used to bludgeon an oversized rodent, I looked around, under the bags, in them, checking to make sure that nothing had eaten its way into the bags, to our food for the next day. Since we were wide awake we decided to go to the toilet and be really prepared to fall asleep. Alas, if life were that simple ! An hour or so after we got back to bed, we had still not fallen asleep and we heard the loud sounds of a human thundering across the very thin metal roof. What ? Is someone trying to get into the room ? Thank goodness the windows are locked we thought. OK, I wish I had a knife, no better yet a katana ! Yes I should have bought one in Japan. All kinds of insane thoughts got through ones head. Finally, a couple hours later out of sheer exhaustion we fell asleep only to be woken up by our alarms so we could catch our boat for day 2. The second tough night in a row. Thanks, Pakbeng.