Ban Houay Xai to Pak Beng 10/10/2019

This was my third boat trip with Shompoo Cruise from Houay Xai to Luang Prabang, with an overnight stop in Pak Beng. The boats that most backpackers use, while costing much less, are no where near as nice and because there are a lot more people aboard freedom of movement is very restricted and lunch is not provided.

About 11/2 hours after cast off and just after the Mekong turns into Laos from the shared border with Thailand, the boat pulled into the Lao navigation control point for about 20 minutes for the boat’s paperwork to be processed while we waited.

Underway again we continued for just under an hour before pulling in to Ban Houy Pha Lam Village, one of the several villages assisted by Shompoo. We strolled around for a while before reboarding in time for lunch. I’m always in two minds when a village visit is included in a tour, but balance my reservations with the realisation that tourists give an opportunity for the generation of additional income.

Down river cruising continued and due to the low-water level we passed several groups of people who were panning for gold. Just after 16:00 we pulled into the Pak Beng boat landing.

Pak Beng is a very small town, basically a T intersection, that exits to serve as an overnight stop for the Mekong river traffic between Luang Prabang and Ban Houay Xai. Its other claim to fame is the elephant camp across the river, which one passenger wanted to spend a couple of days at and departed the cruise to get the boat coming down two days later.