Photos of six days on slow boats up and down the Nam Ou, Laos, in November 2009. The Nam Ou rises in northern Laos, near the Chinese border, and flows into the Mekong at Pak Ou, north of Luang Prabang. It is characterized by dramatic scenery - steep, jungle-clad hills and rocky gorges line its banks.
After two days in Luang Prabang I caught a taxi boat to Nong Khiaw (also known as Muang Ngoi) and stayed overnight there. Next day I continued upriver to Muang Khua in a chartered boat with a group of people met the previous day. The day after that I continued in a taxi boat to Phongsali. After a night there, I returned downriver, spending two nights at Nong Khiaw.
This journey was a remarkable adventure and quite rugged travel, what with uncomfortable boats, crummy guesthouses and indifferent food. Nevertheless it was a great experience - fitted into a 10-day break from Australia - and one that I could happily repeat.
It is an intensive experience and would be improved by spending a day or two at one or more of the towns along the way; Nong Khiaw and Phongsali would be best.
If you want to include Phongsali in your journey, note that it is quite remote; indeed it is the most remote major town in Laos. Flights to/from Vientiane have been discontinued, so your choices for getting there or away are a long and arduous bus journey, either to/from Oudomxai or even perhaps Luang Prabang, or the river. As I had limited time and did not fancy an uncomfortable long-distance bus journey, returning by river was the best option.
This river journey must be undertaken when there is enough water in the Nam Ou for it to be navigable, especially on the upper reaches: just after the monsoon. November is ideal; December is all right and January probably would be OK, too. The river is said to be not navigable at all above Phongsali.
Boatmen usually quote 1 million kip (roughly $US115) for chartering a longtail boat for one of these 4-6 hour river journeys. It works out cheaper if a group shares the cost, but in practice backpackers like the idea of sharing a chartered boat only if it costs no more than a taxi boat, yet a chartered boat is considerably more comfortable as it will be less crowded. A taxi boat is much cheaper - about 120,000 kip per person - but taxi boats are usually cramped and can be overloaded.
Three types of boat are available: longtail boats, which can be fast or slow, and speedboats. Fast longtail boats are indeed faster but have noisier engines, and foreigners are discouraged from using them for that reason. My entire journey was accomplished in slow longtail boats, which offer a pleasanter experience but a long day on the river. Speedboats are long, narrow metal and open - with no overhead cover - and an outboard motor. They are faster than fast longtail boats but also very uncomfortable and extremely dangerous.
The seating on longtail boats varies, although generally it is uncomfortable. Occasionally one sees a boat with proper seats and leg room, but more commonly the seating is on small wooden seats or even just narrow planks, close to the floor.