Slow boat to Luang Prahbang

To enter Laos, we decided to take the two-day slow boat journey down the Me Kong River. We have since learned that Laos is master of cartels and taking advantage of unknowing tourists. Here is what to know!

If you are taking a bus from Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai, be dropped off at the “Friendship Bridge” stop, which is about 3 km from the actual bridge and immigration. We walked the 3 km in half an hour instead of paying for a tuktuk. It is the principle!

You have to pay a bus to drive you across the bridge. Buy your ticket before going through immigration (25 baht a person).

Have USD to pay for the visa, or else you will pay much more.

PULL OUT KIP AT AN ATM AT THE BORDER!!

When you exit immigration, a tuktuk cartel will force you to buy a ride from them. You really don’t have another choice. Sigh. We tried to fight it and almost missed our boat!

Don’t buy your boat ticket anywhere else but right by the boats on the pier!! People will lie to you and say this doesn’t exist. If you pay in kip, you will save a LOT of money.

Don’t let them cram too many people on a boat. Demand another boat with REAL seats if they try to force you into something else. These people are not very nice… Threaten to call the tourist police and cause a scene if they don’t listen to you!

Bring a TOOOONNN of food for the boatride. You will be starving, and the town you stay the first night in doesn’t provide many options and is once again an expensive cartel.

Barter for a room. The more people you make friends with on the boat the better!

The boat drops you off 8 KM from Luang Prahbang!!!! Seriously. They try to have another cartel by making you pay 20.000 kip per person for a ride into town. Refuse and start walking! We had many new offers by the time we had walked 200 m. We ended up getting picked up for free by a sweet Lao family!

By this time, we had made great friends on the boat: Ellie (UK), George (UK), Laura (Germany), and Philipp (Germany). We have spent the last 3 days with them, and we are all great friends! Yeah!