I met Henry in the dorm room. He traveled to the border in the same bus as me. I sensed that we would get along well. We made small talk and laughed about how hectic it was getting ready for the border crossing. We stuck together through the border crossing, more or less. We crossed the Mekong River in a small boat. We were in Laos now.
The Lao border was hectic. Travelers were scattered all over. Locals were trying to sell us anything they could.
A Lao person with good English told us the plan. We would ride the large boat down the Mekong for six hours today. We would stay in a small town, Pak Beng, tonight. Then we would ride for 10 more hours tomorrow. But he said we needed to book accomodation now for tonight because the town did not have electricity at night.
We complied. We overspent though. And the travel agent didn’t give us a receipt. He said he would meet us there. Right. Henry and I were upset at ourselves. We vowed never to reserve accomodation that early again.
We got on the boat. It probably would have a seating capacity of 60 people in the US. However, the Lao people tried to cram 120 travelers on it. It was so packed. I had so little leg room that I couldn’t even point my legs forward when sitting. I had to open them up at about 45 degrees. There were two rows of benches. The aisle was about a foot wide. It was really hot, too. It was hell.
Henry and I talked for a long time. We found common ground. He went to college in Milwaukee (at Marquette). I grew up in Milwaukee.
We arrived in Pak Beng, relieved to get off that boat. The mattress in our room was great, and I had the best sleep so far on this trip.
