The boat was a thin long tail boat with an outboard motor attached. It only just manages to squeeze 10 passengers on board but funnily enough won't bother going unless the boat is full.
We set out north on the Mekong for a couple of hours before turning east onto the smaller and shallower Nam Ou river. This river is often used for kayaking adventures due to the soft rapids along it's course (flowing the other way) and so it was not long before our boat got to a point where the river was too shallow to run the motor.
At this point, a hoard of local children who were playing in the water waded over to our boat and began pushing the boat up the river. Our driver turned around and gestured for us to do the same. After we all asked the same question "push?", we got out of the boat and helped the kids. 100 metres later and a bit wet, we all got back in, gave some food to the kids and continued on.
Later on, we approached some stronger rapids which the boat couldn't take on with all the weight on board. Solution - everybody got out and walked a few hundred meters along the river banks while the driver powered through the rapids in an empty boat.
But the whole trip was worth it as we were rewarded with spectacular scenery all along the course along with seeing people fishing along the river (for fish or for gold)!
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| Our boat with one of the passengers having a smoke |
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| Gwen pushing the boat - not everyone was amused though as you can see the other girl deciding to have a bite to eat |
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| The kids asking for food after pushing the boat |
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| View approaching Nong Khiau |
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