10-18 (Wednesday) The African Queen . . .

All the electric in the community went out at 11:30 last night so we were without our wonderful fan. It actually got very cool during the night.

It was still off when the rooster woke us up at 5:30. The hotel staff fixed breakfast over a charcoal fire. I toasted my own Baggett. The porters were waiting outside our room by 7:00. They liked last night’s tips! We loaded them up and headed to the boat by 78:00 for our 9:00 departure. We gave them each $2 US. That was a fortune but well worth it to us. Today we had a different boat - yesterday we had the Queen Mary today the African Queen. Both boats were equipped to hold around 70 people but they crammed 92 of us on plus the crew and locals going to who know where. In the very front around the captain’s wheel they shoved 10 people plus three crew. The passengers could lean against the side of the boat but their legs had to be either folded or stuck out in front of them. We had the same wooden benches to sit on but no padding like yesterday. Today the benches weren’t bolted to the floor so they could be slightly adjusted. Each one had a wooden slat across the bottom that you cold use as a foot rest.

Cruising down the river . . .

We see elephants working at a log camp, more white water to go through, whirlpools galore.

Cruising down the river . . .

Now it starts to thunder, now it starts to sprinkle, now it is torrential rain. We pull down the tarps on the sides of the boat while our new captain (the hilltribe captain got off about 2 hours ago) heads for shelter. Next to the seat in front of us the tarp is torn and those people are getting soaked. The people right across the aisle from us have NO tarp at all – they are drenched! Lovely cruise! All first class! The rain finally subsides and we continue cruising. The scenery is breathtaking – jungle on both sides and mountains. Sometimes the mountains are very close – we are a speck in the water floating between them, at other times they are farther away but always with us. This country is beautiful. People say Vietnam is beautiful and it is but they need to come here and see this place.

It get to be 3:00 and everyone begins looking for Luang Prabang. We’re all sick of the boat. We begin to see signs of a city . . . more boat traffic, a TV or radio tower and finally . . . a road with cars! YEAH! We endured!

We dock at the bottom of a paved incline. The backpackers start grabbing their stuff. The crew is tossing out the luggage. We’re thinking – “How are we going to get our bags to the top of the hill?” There is a barricade, no tuk tuks or trucks are allowed to come down to the boat. We feel despair. Finally someone asks if we need help. We agree to pay 20 bhat (50 cents) for 2 guys to haul our bags to the top of the hill. We get in a truck/tuk tuk with another couple. We agree on $3 (down from $5.) The driver said our hotel was a long way and he was right. It was far out of town. We drove up to a BEAUTIFUL hotel that looked like a villa. Someone working on the grounds came over to help with our luggage. Instinct told me to show him the name of our hotel. He shook his head, “No.” He told the driver where to take us. It was still a distance from town. When we checked in the girls at the desk acted totally surprised to see us. They got out a big book and found our reservation. They took us up to the room – no elevator. I went downstairs to do something. When I went upstairs again I hear Joyce saying, “This isn’t going to work.” She was right, there was only on big bed in the room. We told them we had to have two beds. No problem – we appeared to be the only two staying in the whole hotel! After we threw down our stuff we ran out and got a tuk tuk to take us into town. We had guest house cards so we stopped off to try to find a place to move to in the morning. We found one we both liked for $12 but decided on a $15 room at the same place since it was bigger. We walked to town. We saw a real nice hotel and we went in to inquire about their rooms - $60 – forget it! We had dinner there for $3 each and it was delicious!

We walked to the night market where they had fabulous silks and other interesting things. We went on into town and inquired about some tours at different agencies.

We ran into a couple we met in Chiang Mai. We chatted with them for a long time and then took a tuk tuk back to our empty hotel.

When I was on the boat I kept feeling like I was sitting on a rough piece of wood and that I was getting a sliver in by butt or I was sitting on a nail. When I took off my shorts tonight I assume it was a nail because it tore a BIG hole in the seat of my shorts.