My trip was in the northern part, so I'm cutting the map down to size, and putting my route in blue dots--
Okay then, let's go..
In Luang Prabang I boarded a slow boat to Houayxai (say way sigh) where I would begin the 3-day Gibbon Experience. Remember the boats from the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland? That's what those boats are like, almost exactly.
It was a two day boat ride up the Mekong River. We made our way upriver at a slow pace, stopping every so often to offload rice, notebooks, or fruit at small villages along the way. Rivers here are not quite the same as back home- they're very brown. You don't see much in the way of clear water anywhere. It's just very muddy. The hills on either side of the Mekong are green as can be this time of year, bursting with ficus and bamboo and agricultural fields. 
There was evidence of clearcutting or slash and burn in practice at every bend in the river, where a huge patch of the hillside is cleared to plant dry rice, which in the end becomes that yummy sticky rice. I've been told they rotate croplands every 12 years with the slash and burn method. None of the cleared plots looked any bigger than a few acres, but even so, it gave the landscape a patchy look.
The boat ride itself was pretty uneventful. The first day I was very tired from having gone to sleep too late, so I slept much of the day. Luckily our boat wasn't very crowded and there was room to sort of lie down over a couple of seats and sleep. There are definitely advantages to being short when you travel! The second day I read 600 pages in my book! We also shared half the boat with a delivery of roots , either used for food or dyes.
Before we started the second day up the river, I pulled an incredibly stupid tourist move that made me seriously wonder if I'd lost my savvy traveler touch. That morning I boarded the boat and I couldn't find my ticket!! I'd taken it out earlier and stuck it in my pocket... so I wouldn't lose it! Ha! I hurriedly retraced my steps from the boat landing all the way back to the restaurant where I had breakfast, but to no avail- I'd totally lost my ticket. I walked back to the boat landing resigned to buying another ticket, when a guy approached me and said "Houayxai?" I said yes, and as he pointed to the boat, I followed him, thinking he was a boat operator. I confirmed with him "110,000 kip?" which is about $10, and he nodded enthusiastically. Knowing that this might have been a scam and he might not actually have worked for the boat, I waited until we got about 10 feet from the boat before giving him the cash. He ushered me onto the boat, and as I stepped up, a man asked for my ticket. I said. "Oh I just gave my money to that guy---" and turned around to find that the fellow had taken off!! Immediately I knew that I'd been a sodding idiot and had just been taken for $10, so I hung my head and forked over another $10 for a real ticket. In the end, I'd paid for that boat trip 3 times over!!! ARGH!!! Oh well, it was my own fault, what are you gonna do? On to Houayxai...Next- the Gibbon Experience!
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