It takes ten days Mekong Pearl for the approximately 600 kilometers from the Laotian capital Vientiane in the south upriver via Luang Prabang to the Golden Triangle, in the border area of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. It is a boat trip through largely untouched nature. However, given the dam projects that China and Laos are pursuing, this will soon be a thing of the past.
The country is changing rapidly. Since 2021, an express train has connected China with the former Kingdom of Laos. The river still takes visitors to remote villages that don’t even have a road leading to them. In front of the houses you can see small, colorful wooden houses. They are supposed to drive away evil spirits. The many tourists who will soon be found inland will probably not stop them.
Lars Reichardt