It would be very difficult to find a room for the night since there'd be no electricity. He has the cheepest guesthouse for 300Baht and he has somebody to guide and take us there. NONE OF THESE ARE TRUE!!!
Our total travel time was 6hrs including 3 short stops. we arrived in Pak Beng with enough sunlight to check in at an 80Baht guesthouse, to shop for our next day's supplies, to buy our
100,000Kip boat ticket for our next day trip to Luang Phrabang, and to have dinner.
There were a lot of people offering their guesthouses when we arrived and we gave one of them a chance. It was
Santisouk Guesthouse. About 50m above the pier is OudomXai, a travel company which sells boat tickets back to Huay Xai and to Luang Phrabang. We bought our ticket here for a different boat and we got a car-type seat reserved for us. A much needed comfort for a long ride.
The boats had a seating capacity of about 60 people plus floor seats for about 20 more. The wooden benches were very uncomfortable so a lot of people ended up sitting/lying on the floor instead. The boats also had a toilet, and a mini store with expensive food and snacks.
Pak Beng is a dinky little town mostly used by tourist as a 1-night rest stop. It has loads of guesthouses, mini marts, a wet market, bars, and restaurants with Lao, Thai, Indian, and Western cuisines. Electricity does shut down here but not at 7pm. It goes on and off during the day then it stays on from 6pm until 10:30pm. There are
no ATM machines here nor money changers. Thai Baht and USD are also widely used.
We woke up the next day to the sound of other travelers getting ready to leave. While having our breakfast at 8am, we noticed a lot of people boarding the boat already. The boarding time for the boat was 9am for a 9:30am departure. But we weren't worried about losing a good seat this time since we already had our names on two of the comfy seats.
Our travel time for this day was
7hrs including 6 short stops for on and off passengers. This ride had more turns and more rocks to dodge, so at times, the boat would tease to collapse. It was a fairly safe ride though and the view of the landscape and villages was very photographic... exactly what this trip was all about.
When we arrived in Luang Phrabang's port, we felt so alone and worried because there was nobody there pushing to rent us their guesthouses or at least offer us a ride. We had to ask if we were in fact in Luang Phrabang. After a couple of confirmations, we walked towards our picked guesthouses. We first went to
Jaliyah Guesthouse, but the cheapest double-fan room they could give us was for 60,000Kip, which was way over our budget. Beside Jaliyah was
Mixay Guesthouse. We got our room here for 30,000Kip.
After a much needed cold shower, we ran off to catch a show at the
Royal Ballet Theatre in the
Royal Palace Museum.
