One Awesome Mekong River Cruise!

We were looking forward to our cruise down the Mekong River, and it didn’t disappoint. We had heard mixed reviews from people on the slow-boats, the majority of which were positive but still varied, so we had a decision to make. We did choose to pay a little extra to have some of the organising done for us.

Nagi of Mekong, made getting to the border from our hotel in Chiang Khong easy. Crossing the border and getting to the boat was all taken care of. For us, that was a bonus. It probably saved us a day or two, which meant more time in Laos!

Note: We have no affiliation with Nagi of Mekong. All opinions given in this article are purely ours.

When we arrived in our hotel at Chiang Khong, there was an envelope waiting for us with our Laos visa-on-arrival form and our arrival card, as well as confirmation of our pick up time. The following morning we were picked up and whizzed to the border in a minivan along with other passengers for the Mekong cruise.

Crossing the border was made easy by our guide Xay. He was on hand to tell us what we needed at each point, and with his help, we had everything ready, including passport photo stapled to our visa application (we already had the photos with us). Soon we had cleared out of Thailand and taken a bus across the Thai-Laos friendship bridge and cleared immigration at the Laos border.

A short minivan ride later and we were on the super-long, traditional Laos style, slow-boat settled into comfortable bus seats with convenient table seating. There was a bar from which we could purchase beer, soft drinks and snack foods and a long table set up with complimentary tea, coffee, Ovaltine and fruit.

BONUS: On Nagi of Mekong riverboats there is a bathroom with a modern toilet & paper!

Cruising on the Mekong was relaxing and enjoyable. The river had a lot more rocks in it than I had imagined and the scenery was beautiful. We saw the fast-boats flying past with many people wearing motorbike helmets, fishermen with long bamboo poles and nets, cattle and we even saw an elephant!

We were on the two-day slow-boat, with lodge accommodation for the night, halfway along the river. Both days we stopped at a village and had a wander around while our guide, Xay, explained about the sticky rice harvesting and how they store it in small timber/bamboo huts, and how they kept the rats out of the rice.

The following morning, breakfast of scrambled eggs, toasted baguettes, butter, jam, tea and coffee was served at the lodge’s restaurant. We reconvened on the boat at 08:00 to continue our journey to Luang Prabang.

On our river cruise, there were only eight of us, passengers, on the boat, so we had heaps of room to spread out and plenty of opportunities to mingle. Other people travelling with us were Jade and Gleed a young couple from the UK, straight out of uni and enjoying a five-week holiday before starting work. Barbara, from Alaska, is a boat surveyor, so we had boats in common! Michelle, from Perth, I learnt does cooking lessons everywhere she travels. For David and Jill, from Queensland, this is their third trip with Nagi of Mekong. Then there was Brian and Brigit an English/Belgium couple who were covered in bites from doing the Gibbon Experience! My heart went out to them, the bites looked so painful! It was a nice group of people, and I think we all found the trip relaxing and enjoyable.