Watch our video of the Laos Pandaw
A 10 day cruise from Vientiane to Chiang Kong
Cruising the mighty Laos Mekong River
(Updated)
We were picked up from Wattay airport, Vientiane after a tour of the Plain of Jars, looking forward to the next stage of our Laos adventure.
The driver took us to the River Transport Jetty but the jetty was bare.
No sign of our boat at the dock, no sign on the river.
Surely the RV Laos Pandaw couldn’t have sailed already, after all Pandaw organised the pre-tour and pick-up from the airport.
However in February the Mekong water level is low, very low, and the Laos Pandaw is a small boat.
To our relief it was tied up to a lower level wharf, invisible from above, waiting for us to board before getting under way on our 10-day upstream cruise from Vientiane in Laos to Chiang Kong in Thailand.
The Laos Mekong River
The mighty Mekong is the “mother of waters” or “Mother Khong”.
It rises in Tibet and flows through, or alongside, China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
In northern Laos in particular, navigation is difficult because of rocks, rapids and the extreme seasonal variation in water levels.
Rocks, rapids and changing water levels make navigation difficult on the Laos Mekong river.
In a country with few major roads the Mekong is vital for transportation. It’s importance is so great that it forms the major part of the Lao flag – the broad blue strip in the middle.
The flag of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The blue centre stripe represents the Mekong River.
The Laos Pandaw
It’s difficult to believe that just a few years ago the Laos Pandaw was a 40 metre barge used to carry cement and rice up into China.
The RV Laos Pandaw is a luxurious ten-cabin river boat that cruises the Mekong River in Laos. It has been converted from a rice and cement cargo vessel.
It has been converted into a two-deck riverboat, finished in teak and brass, a replica of the ships that plied the Irrawaddy from the 1930s until they were scuttled in the second world war to stop them falling into the hands of the Japanese army.
The captain and former owner of the Laos Pandaw, Phoomphane Si Hong Thong. To his left is first officer Baun Than while smiling senior purser Em Saroeng looks on.
The former owner of the barge is now the captain, Phoomphane Si Hong Thong, and after 30 years he knows the Mekong like the back of his hand.
He can read the ever-changing currents as the river flows around rocks and through rapids and shallows.
On board the Laos Pandaw
Ten comfortable staterooms on the main deck have en-suite bathrooms with showers and spa-branded amenities. The two twin beds can be converted to a double.
There are several electrical outlets, 240V, but we always take a power-strip on our travels to charge up laptop, tablets and multiple camera batteries.
The saloon on the upper deck has a well-stocked bar and 24-hour tea and coffee. In cold or wet weather the saloon doubles as the dining room but there’s an outside dining room and lounge area for warmer days.
Depending on the temperature, the saloon or lounge is where we gathered for the cocktail of the day and canapes while our guide, Mr Keo, gave us a run down of the following day’s activities.
In February in the northern parts of Laos and on the Mekong it’s cold, especially at night and in the early morning, so we usually dined indoors. But wherever we ate, the food was fresh and delicious: a buffet breakfast with a hot egg-and-noodle station; three course lunches and dinners with a choice of Asian or European dishes including vegetarian options.
Stuck in the mud!
Early morning mist in February along the Mekong River in northern Laos.
On several occasions early morning mist meant a late start to the day’s cruising. The captain is a whizz at reading the water but he needs to be able to see it to avoid the shallows!
We only went aground once and that wasn’t his fault but because of the eight Chinese super-dams farther up the Mekong. They seem to open and close them on a whim causing the water level to drop rapidly with unfortunate effects for those further downstream.
So, in Luang Prabang we went to bed with the boat moving gently in the current and woke next morning to the sound of thrashing diesel engines trying, unsuccessfully, to power us off the mud.
The crew did a great job during the day to get us unstuck. It involved rocks, ropes and a felled tree trunk.
As Archimedes said, “Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the earth.”
Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang and nearby villages are some of Laos’ most popular tourist areas. In fact, Luang Prabang is a World Heritage site – the entire town!
After cruising slowly past untouched forests and isolated villages it came as a bit of a culture shock to be back amongst large numbers of international visitors, cafes, restaurants and souvenir shops.
There are also wats and monasteries; you can find these in some of the larger villages but the number of monks at these is small, just two or three in some cases.
Probably the most famous scene in Luang Prabang is the early morning walk by hundreds of monks seeking alms. Local people, mainly women, sitting on mats wait along the route and place food, usually sticky rice (and sometimes packets of biscuits) into their begging bowls.
Interestingly I also saw women giving money.
In Burma we were told that you should not give monks money. But whatever they gave, the donors were quiet and respectful which is more than can be said for some of the tourists.
Kuang Si
Kuang Si is an area near Luang Prabang that’s popular with both local and international tourists.
It has beautiful waterfalls and cascades with many turquoise pools. You can swim in some of these and there are rocky outcrops that make great jumping off platforms but beware! The water is cold.
Kuang Si is also home to a number of Asian moon bears that have been rescued from poachers. Their home now has swings, hammocks, plenty of food and friends to play with.
All the bears have names and personalities. They look like big black teddy bears but with very sharp claws.
Sadly there is no way they can be returned to the wild as they would be hunted once again but in their new home they are an absolute delight to watch.
For more information check out the Kuang Si bear rescue centre and if you go make sure you buy a t-shirt to help support them. I did.
Changing scenery
In Vientiane the Mekong was wide and, because of the low water level, the shore and exposed river bed were sandy.
As we cruised further north it became narrower and the scenery more dramatic.
Laos’ small population (fewer than 7 million in a country the size of the United Kingdom which has ten times the population) means mountains covered in lush vegetation sweep down to the river banks in many places.
Villages seemed few and far between probably because they were out of sight uphill above the wet-season water-level. Houses were built on stilts.
Morning mist shrouds the lush forests along the Mekong River in Laos. Houses and villages are usually build well above the wet season water level.
We saw surprisingly few boats and most of those were small canoes used by local fishermen. Often fishing poles jutted into the water from rocky outcrops: there must have been villages nearby but they were well hidden amongst the trees.
Small fishing boats along the banks of the Mekong River in Laos.
Some larger vessels carried bulk cargo, rice or cement, possibly as far upriver as China. Our elegant Laos Pandaw began life as one of these dusty workhorses.
Where the river served as a border between Laos and Thailand the difference between the tamed, cultivated Thai side and the rugged, natural Lao side was an eye-opener.
The Xayaburi Dam
Turbulent water rushing downstream at the site of the Xayaburi Dam across the Mekong River in Laos.
Midway through our journey we passed through the Xayaburi dam, the first of several planned for the Laos section of the Mekong.
Resource-poor Laos wants to become “the battery” of South East Asia with a series of hydroelectric dams but is getting heavy flak from environmentalists because of the effect they will have on fish stocks and the silt that gets washed down through Cambodia and Vietnam providing fertile farmland with the river’s seasonal rise and fall.
The Xayaburi dam was completed in late 2019 but it’s still controversial. It’s been built and financed by Thai companies and most of the electricity is sold to Thailand which doesn’t really need it. Laos still has to import it because its infrastructure is so poor.
Five more dams are planned for the Laos section of the Mekong although none have been started yet.
China already has eight dams higher up the Mekong that have affected water flow.
You can read more information about the dam here.
The Xayaburi Dam under construction across the Mekong River in Laos. The entrance to the lock is the dark opening to the left of the curving wall.
But whatever the pros and cons of the dam, passing through a narrow lock and being raised some twenty metres higher proved to be an exciting event.
There were bangs and scrapes as we moved into the lock and all the crew were on the top deck pushing at the close, very close, wall, presumably to help keep the boat away.
All hands on deck!
The whole thing took half to three-quarters of an hour and we lost at least one tyre-fender during the operation.
Ban Na Saan Hmong village
Our overnight stop was at Ban Na Saan, a Hmong village.
We anchored alongside a sandbank and walked up a steep incline through pleasant woodland to dusty roads with houses randomly scattered along them.
The village has about thirty houses, made in the traditional style from wood (although once it would have been split bamboo) with thatched roofs.
We visited the local primary school where a class-full of five and six year olds were beavering away in workbooks.
The two-room school had dirt floors, wooden benches and desks, a blackboard and pictures on the walls, but not much else in the way of resources.
The children though looked happy and attentive.
Outside some of the houses women were embroidering costumes and pictures with traditional Hmong patterns while elderly men sat and talked or smoked. We saw very few young men but they were probably off working in their plantations.
Ethnic music and costume
That evening, as we sipped our evening cocktails and nibbled on kebabs and cabbage rolls on the sandbank where we had moored, a group of villagers of all ages turned up.
One old man brought a traditional Hmong instrument, a qeej, which sounded like bagpipes but was made of several bamboo pipes.
This elderly man in the Hmong village of Ban Na Saan along the Mekong River in Laos, was an expert qeej player.
“The qeej is more than an instrument in the Hmong culture. The music it plays is like an extension to the Hmong language, meaning every note symbolizes its own word. To Hmong people, the sounds of the Qeej is like speech and Qeej players are known as story tellers.” Wikipedia
Later several young children also arrived dressed in the intricate Hmong traditional costume. It was a fascinating look at one of Laos’ ethnic minorities. (Read more about Lao ethnic groups on our Luang Prabang museum post).
So many memories
We have so many more wonderful memories of our ten day journey.
The longboat trip through one set of rapids while the Laos Pandaw was towed by the captain’s son’s rice cargo boat.
The Pak Ou caves; two of them set in the face of steep cliffs and filled with thousands of Buddha statues.
Elephant bathing in the Mekong River at Pak Beng in Laos.
Elephants bathing in the Mekong near Pak Beng.
A Pandaw passenger launches a fire balloon by the Mekong River in Laos.
Standing on a sandbank launching fire balloons into the dark night.
Relaxing on the top deck of the Laos Pandaw as it cruises slowly along the Mekong River in Laos. The chilly weather meant the blankets were very welcome.
Drifting slowly along one of the world’s great rivers.
And all the beautiful, laid back, friendly people of Lao PDR. Officially that’s the Lao People’s Democratic Republic but as the locals say ‘Lao Please Don’t Rush’.
Some useful information
Pandaw currently has three boats operating in Laos, the ten-cabin Laos Pandaw, fourteen-cabin Champa Pandaw and fourteen-cabin Sabaidee Pandaw.
10 day cruises from Vientiane to Chiang Kong (upstream) and the reverse direction downstream.
The Sabaidee Pandaw also undertakes 14-day cruises from Vientiane to Jinghong, China and reverse.
https://www.pandaw.com/expeditions/laos-mekong/
There are no sailings May June July
Visas
- The Lao government issues 30-day tourist visas on arrival at all international airports and most international border crossings.
- Costs are between between US$30 and US$42 in cash (different rates for different nationalities).
- One passport-sized photo required
- Accommodation details are also required (the name of your Pandaw boat).
- Passports should be valid for at least six months.
- Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Luxembourg and Switzerland passports do not need visas.
Weather
- The Laos dry season runs from October to April, and the wet season from May until September
- The heaviest rainfall generally in August & September.
- The hottest time of the year is between March and June (temperatures can climb to 35°C and above).
- North, central and eastern regions are at a higher altitude and cooler than the south.
- We travelled in February when nights and early mornings were sometimes cold. Jerseys and fleeces were needed. However daytime temperatures were warm. We had no rain (but lots of early morning mist).
Money
- The national currency in Laos is the Lao kip (K)
- At the time of writing (June 2018) $1 = about 8000K
- There are no coins.
- Notes are available in denominations of 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000, 50000 and 100000.
- Small vendors may have trouble changing the larger denomination notes, so make sure you have some lower denomination notes handy.
- ATMs available in Vientiane and Luang Prabang. There is a 40,000K transaction fee (about US$5).
- Thai baht (B) and US dollars (US$)may be used in Vientiane and Luang Prabang.
- On the Laos Pandaw in 2016 we had to settle our on-board accounts in cash as there were no credit card facilities on the boat. This might have changed.
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