To get from Luang Prabang to the Thai border at Heuy Xai we had to take a slow boat for two days up the Mekong. Most people do the trip in the opposite direction so it wasn't as packed with annoying backpackers, though there were still a few on the boat. The trip was pretty uneventful, I got to read about 200+ pages of a book and watch a few movies on my iPod. The scenery was pretty fantastic and it got better and better the further upriver we went. The view out from our hostel window where we stopped for the night was amazing; the full moon was shining through the clouds, lighting up the river that is normally a dull, rushing brown during the day into a silver arc cutting through the blacked out hills.

The second day was a lot quicker but less comfortable than the first day. We had a lot of kids waving at us from the shore, some jumping into the river and trying to swim out to the boat for fun. There was also a point where the boat stopped to let a load of locals on to sell food and beer. When we got to Huey Xai we looked at doing the Gibbon Experience, which is three days trekking through the jungle and staying in a tree-house, but it was too expensive, so I'll have to find some monkeys somewhere else :(

Have a goo at the photos on Flickr.