We all end in the ocean, we all start in the streams...

In theory, a two day boat trip up the Mekong River sounds exciting, and adventuresome, and perhaps romantic. In reality, it's just a really long time on a boat that isn't very nice. Having reached that point in my travels where my money really is worth so much more than my time, I decided that the 80+ hours of travel (including boat time, bus time, and 2-overnights in dodgy border towns) was worth it, seeing as it was less than 25% of the cost of flying (the flight's just under an hour, incidentally), and besides who knows when I might get this chance again?

I'm sure it's one of those experiences I'll look back on fondly, and in fact, the boat journey behind me, I'm already able to smile about a few of the more "exciting" highlights. Things got off to a bit of a shaky start when Amir & I arrived at the pier (early, as instructed) to find that we weren't taking the "nice" boat with the comfortable looking seats I'd been shown the day before, but a smaller, shabbier version with hard benches and thin cloth cushions. No worries, I thought, it's only for 9 hours (today!), right? I decided to put on a happy face, tucked into my breakfast baguette, and got ready for the adventure.

About 30 minutes later, I was thinking about how many times I've been told I'm lucky because I *never* get motion-sickness. Except, apparently, on a rocking boat in the middle of the Mekong. Ughh... things quickly took a turn towards miserable. I found a place to lie down behind the engine "compartment" and decided I would try to sleep. It's probably a testament to how badly I felt that I was able to sleep over the absolute racket of the engine. I tried listening to my iPod and was a bit concerned when I couldn't even hear the music at it's loudest setting. My mind wandered back to all those lectures about what levels of noise exposure cause permanent hearing damage and I rooted around in my bag until I found a pair of earplugs. I slept with the earplugs in and my hands clamped over my ears, for nearly 3 hours. Luckily I felt much better when I woke up...

We arrived in Pak Beng "The Jewel of the Mekong"... oh wait, that's Laos... around 6 pm. I cannot begin to describe to you how hard it was raining. It was almost laughable, except at this point, we were all pretty tired and crabby. And no less so after a half-mile climb up the hill into town. We finally ended up in a very shabby (but dry and at least relatively clean room) costing just about $3/night. You do remember the adage about getting what you pay for??

Another very rainy day on the boat today. I was snoozing and listening to some music this morning, trying to catch up on some of the sleep I didn't get last night, owing to the constant battering of rain on the tin roof, when a guy from New Zealand tapped me on the shoulder. I open my eyes, pop out my headphones, and he says, "We've just seen a tiger over on the riverbank." WHAT?? Story of my life... I miss all the good scenery reading or sleeping. :)

We arrived in Huy Xia this evening just minutes after the border with Thailand closed. I think there is some deal between the boat operators and the guesthouse owners in town. The room here is a little nicer and there's even a hot shower, so things are looking up. Tomorrow morning, I'll catch a quick ferry to the other side of the Mekong and I'll be back in Thailand. Sunday, it's up to the mountains for awhile.