It was a pleasant day on the boat to Pakbeng, all organised by Nok from the Little Hostel. She does such a great job for everybody. We all had a packed lunch, boat tickets and booked accommodation in Pakbeng.
Nok also asked me to inform everyone that the slow boat to Luang Prabang is back in business and is currently running 2 days per week – Monday and Thursday – but from October 20, it’ll be everyday (330k kip from the hostel inc. pickup and reservation).
This is really good news for HouayXai. I’ve noticed the sad effects of Covid on so many places on this trip, but tourists seem to be returning !
Interestingly, the guesthouse that Nok booked for me in Pakbeng was the same one I stayed in, 7 years ago 😁 the guy who runs it told me that he had nearly 3 years with no tourists. Lovely people, that also run the bakery over the road.
I spoke to lots of great people on the boat but I was possibly slightly older than most of their parents. Still, it was a great day.
I also met two other bike tourers on the boat – Adrian from Singapore and Tam from Thailand. Both are really nice people (of course) and we had dinner that night on Pakbeng. It turns out that Tam, amongst other things, farms organic coffee beans and has a number of outlets in Thailand, multiple brands and exports to countries such as Japan.
He also carries his coffee beans and a grinder with him and he made us some great coffee in the morning.
I was really happy to meet these two and share stories. Adrian actually left from Singapore at a similar time to me, but was attacked by dogs, fell and broke some ribs. The locals looked after him and got him to hospital, then he went home to Singapore to recuperate and restarted from the same town. They are continuing to Luang Prabang and will ride together to Vientiane.
I went to sleep still wondering how I was going to drag my butt up those big hills the next day.
