Shrouded in fog in the post dawn light, we boarded the Laotian slow boat bound for Huay Xai. Over the next two days, we would be traveling upstream more than 300 kilometers from Luang Prabang through the mountainous terrain that makes up landlocked Laos to the Thailand/Laos border.

Fishing along the foggy shores of the Mekong River

While the boat skimmed over the water, zig zagging between rocks and eddies, I settled into the little seating area in the back of the slim but long boat with a hot cup of tea and watched the sun burn off the fog and reveal the humble majesty that is the Mekong River and the landscape that falls to her shores.

Pink and black water buffalo wallowed at the water’s edge, children bathed and frolicked and waved madly at us as we passed by. We saw fishermen casting their nets into the shallow waters and just a few cargo boats, as slim and long as our boat, making deliveries to the tiny mountain villages only accessible by the river. Every bend in the river revealed a new landscape.