A relaxing trip on the Mekong aiming for Luang Prabang

The day starts with the border crossing into Laos. Interesting that the minute a queue of tourists appears at the Visa On Arrival desk the officials decide to shut up shop and go off for breakfast.  Still, we need them more than they need us so we hang around quietly and hope that if we behave really well they'll remember that we're standing there waiting. Our patience is not rewarded with a speedy reopening of the booth but the fee, in dollars, is demanded as soon as the window reopens then there is another lengthy wait for our by now stamped documents to be returned to us. Welcome to Laos!

Then it's all aboard the traditional river boat and all feelings of irritation vanish.

Meandering along the Mekong in a river boat is a wonderfully relaxing way to travel. You just sit there watching the world go by, wishing you had an ice cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc instead of a plastic bottle of lukewarm water, and feeling as if the outside world barely exists.

This section of the mighty Mekong has a more varied shoreline than many other parts of the river so there is usually something to admire and keep you awake:

And these huts are where the River Police have their lookout:

Our boatman had to stop off to present his papers and permits.

Some of the shoreline has the most amazingly secluded and sandy bays that would make ideal luxury resorts, other than the fact that the Mekong rises so dramatically in the rainy season that anything built there would be submerged. They are trying to build up the shore defences:

But you can see how high the water rises in some parts from the water line on the rocks:

There is development taking place but at a safe distance from the water's edge:

And this is the burning I've mentioned before, that causes all the pollution in the air, affecting visibility:

A nighttime stop at a local village:

Nice hotel, shame about the village:

But it housed one of the more obscurely located ATMs I've ever come across:

And of course it had a monastery/temple but not one of the unnecessarily flashy ones:

Leaving in the morning was well timed as a couple of elephants had been taken down to the water's edge to drink and bathe:

They really are a magnificent sight.

One final stop off point before getting back on dry land and of course it involved yet more Buddhas:

The cave entrance:

And the Buddhas:

So now it's full steam ahead and my next blog will be from Luang Prabang, my first proper point of call in Laos, as a riverside cave full of Buddhas doesn't count in my mind as being truly on real solid Laos territory.