Luang Prabang and slow boat up the Mekong

Well, in comparison to "Party Central" Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang was much more sophisticated and up-market (with prices to match). After a bus ride through amazing highland scenery, the road dips downhill to the town. Luang Prabang is a small northern Laos town of beautiful riverside colonial buildings, top notch restaurants, art galleries and masses of sparkling temples. This was definitely the place you could take your mum for a long weekend (relaxing in the shade of course). The main part of the town itself if on a river peninsular (like the Wirral), but only about 500m width. Shopping heaven. It was killing me as the night market was amazing. Silks, bedding, clothing, metalwork etc all produced by the local villagers who were mostly Hmong. Also, like our whole Laos experience, no crazy road crossings and urban maddness. Laos has a much smaller population than the other SE Asia countries and this really made everything feel calmer.
Anyhow, after great self discipline on my part (Greg of course totally unaffected),I managed not to buy anything, telling myself to wait until Thailand again. I'd definitely like to come back here and stay in a top spa hotel and dine out in the luxurious restaurants. However, best to get here before 2013 when the Chinese are financing the redevelopment of the airport runway and I beieve Jumbos will be landing!
The main reason for travelling here was to take the slow boat up the Mekong river to the Thai border at Chiang Khong. The boat was similar to the one posted here. Long with seating at the front, engines, loos, and owner's family living area at the rear. The journey was to take two days with an overnight stop in Pak Beng. Thus began two 10.5hr days chugging our way upstream against the current. Yes, those days were a bit too long really, but we could walk around, and circulate in a sociable mannner with our fellow passengers (hello to Matt from Bristol and Mo and Vern from Vancouver). The other bonus to this form of travel was the amazing mountainous countryside we travelled through, so green - just how i like it (often with no road conection) and the privilage of seeing Laoations (people of Laos) going about their daily business. The jungle either side of the river was really dense and I couldn't help thinking about the secret war that Laos was caught up in over 30 years ago. The local Hmong people sided with the US against communism, and unofficially the US sent in undercover CIA agents to train up the Hmong people as guerrilla fighters. One of these undercover agents was partly the inspiration for Colonel Kurtz in Apocolyse Now (Yes that film again - a personal obsession - " Oh the horror, horror, horror").Another dodgy thing about this area was that it was part of the "golden triangle" of drug smuggling (opium and marajuana) which fed this US interst in the area. Saying al that, it was really beautiful and I would love to explore some of the more remote valleys os Northern Laos if I ever get a chance.
Postcript: Our camera died at Luang Prabang and so unfortunally no pictures of the river journey. I'm hoping some of our fellow passenger send some over and I will add them to the blog and gallery for continuity and the fact that the photo opportunities from the boat were magnificent.
Liz