slow boat on the Mekong - Sept. 10-12

The Mekong River, even here in Northern Laos when it still has to wind south along the whole of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, is a wide, brown, smooth river. The river appears languid rather than powerful, the brown waters sitting flat under the hills. There's aren't any visible markers of movement until the water finds a rock poking through the surface, when the river throughs up sprays of white and you see how fast the water is rushing south.
We joined the Mekong's waters at the Thai-Laos border. A ferry - nothing more than a long canoe with an outboard motor - took us across to Laos. For US$31 we were issued a month-long Laos visa (Laos uses US dollars and Thai baht as much as its own Kip. Cambodia is even stranger. At 4000 rial to the dollar, Cambodians use US dollars as the primary currency and Rial notes as change (if you pay with two dollar bills for a $1.50 bill, you'll get 2000 Rial back).
After a night in the Laos border village of Huay Xia, we headed for the boat ramp. The two-day ride south to Luang Prabang cost 190,000 Kip ($19).
The boat was meant for cargo, but added 32 wooden benches barely wide enough for two people. At least 80 or 90 passengers are on board, sprawled on the floor among baggage and bags of rice. Those seated are in rows of the small wooden benches, not quite wide enough for two American tourists to share comfortable. The wooden plank making the seat is too narrow, the back too straight for any comfort even for one.
The first day, we stake out an area on the floor behind the seats, leaning against stacked bags. The second day, on a different boat, the only room is on the benches. The floor is far preferable. Benches leave your ass with a dull ache after the first hour. Regardless of how you shift, the ache will stay until you get off the boat six hours later.