By Liz Smailes

The Mekong River is the lifeblood of mainland Southeast Asia. It serves over 60 million people who depend on the watercourse and its tribu­taries for food, water, transport, trade, farming and many other aspects of their daily lives. This vital ecosystem is currently under threat from dam ‘developments’ and hydropower plants and despite lobbying from environmental organisa­tions; I wanted to experience it for myself before the damage really sets in.

My journey began at the heart of the Golden Trian­gle in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Once the domain of bandits, this corner of the notorious triangle, shared by Thailand, Burma and Laos, placed Thailand on the global map as an opium free area and today comes complete with cappuc­cino outlets and a museum worth the trip on its own.

The driving force behind the transformation of this region lays in the opium eradication project through crop substitution inspired by His Majesty, the King of Thailand. In 1959, coffee plantations became a major replacement for one of the world’s oldest substances taken by humans for medicinal pur­poses, but largely abused to become a debilitating addiction. The memory of that addiction lives on at the Hall of Opium – a world class museum depict­ing cultural heritage and history, initiated by Her Royal Highness the late Princess Mother as part of the Doi Tung Development Project. Any visitor with an interest in the history of this region should spare a few hours to explore this superlative museum.

Known as the Mother of Waters, the Mekong supports one of the world’s most diverse fisheries, second only to the Amazon. Its annual flood–drought cycles are essential for the sustainable production of rice and vegetables on the floodplains and along the riverbanks during the dry season. The 12th longest river in the world, the Mekong runs 4,800 kilometres from its head­waters on the Tibetan Plateau through the Yunnan Province of China, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR and empties into the sea through a network of streams at the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.

In many ways Mark Twain’s Mississippi River of the 1880s had much in com­mon with the Mekong River of today. Like Twain’s Mississippi, the Laotian Mekong is a dividing line, the gateway to a wild and undeveloped frontier. Like Twain’s Mississippi, life on the Laotian Mekong is just now being af­fected by telecommunications, land transport and electricity. Like Twain’s Mississippi, life on the Laotian Mekong is just now beginning to forget its civil war past in favour of a more prosperous and dynamic future and like Twain’s Mississippi, life on the Laotian Mekong is on the verge of changing forever.

Until seven years ago Laos was, like Bhutan or North Korea, strictly off-lim­its to adventure travellers. This all changed in 1999 when Vientiane revoked long-standing travel restrictions as part of its 1999 “Visit Laos Year” cam­paign. I was booked on a two-day Luang Say cruise operated by Asian-Oasis, destined for the UNESCO World Heritage town of Luang Prabang. The port town on the Laos side, Houay Xai, marks the start of the lower Mekong and serves as a rough midway point between the river’s mostly inaccessible Chinese course (which begins with snow-fed headwaters 15,000 feet up in the Tibetan Plateau), and its more well-known Indochina passage, which culminates in the famous Vietnamese Delta. It was the perfect start to my journey.

Because the Mekong does not naturally lend itself as an international superhighway, it is, for now at least, one of the few great rivers of the world that has retained its somewhat pristine character. As I sat on the prow end of the boat, I took in sights that probably hadn’t changed much since French explorer Francis Garnier arrived there in 1866: rattan-and-thatch homes clinging to hill­sides at the high-water mark; smiling locals coolly navi­gating rapids in dugout canoes and long-tail boats; sa­rong-wrapped women bathing beneath black-rock cliffs at sundown; naked, tanned kids clowning around in the shallows, gleefully calling out to me as we drifted lazily by.

However, “pristine” is a purely relative term here in the 21st century. Whereas Garnier’s expedition notes de­scribed the Laotian wilderness as an “unending, unpen­etrable forest,” clear-cuts are evidence of a more recent phenomenon: commercial logging and the most obvi­ous result of this deforestation is the lack of wildlife. Whereas Garnier reported seeing all manner of tigers, leopards, wild elephants, monkeys, crocodiles and boa constrictors haunting the shores of the Mekong, today you can enjoy dancing butterflies the size of your palm, buffalos basking in the sun, goats taking a sip of Mekong waters and where logging is carried out, you may even see an elephant in the water – get that camera ready!

An early departure meant the autumnal colours on the banks peaked through a light morning mist while fishermen avidly collected their catch from the nets attached to rocks and trees along the way.
Just before sunset, our riverboat pulled into the village of Pak Beng and the purpose built Luang Say Lodge, perched on a steep slope overlooking a gorgeous, can­yon-like stretch of river. Passengers were greeted with a refreshing drink as lilac skies invited us to sit and watch the chameleon horizon serenely disappear. Mas­sage services in your room added to the relaxation upon request before sitting down to a demonstration of Laos Hill Tribe dance and music, choreographed so tastefully without infringing on its authenticity for tourists’ tastes – it was the most delightful entrée to an equally delecta­ble evening buffet.

Waking from a deep, soothing slumber under a cricket lullaby, the morning was infused with revisited thoughts of the waters’ assets and anticipation of our final destina­tion later that afternoon. An early departure meant the autumnal colours on the banks peaked through a light morning mist while fishermen avidly collected their catch from the nets attached to rocks and trees along the way. From the bottom of the river, jagged rocks extend to and above the surface, making navigation challenging. Our crew had done the journey many times before and conducted the voyage with ease and serenity, I was con­fident our captain knew every rock in the river.

After visiting a couple of hill tribe villages along the way, we arrived in Luang Prabang at 4pm. This is one of the most enigmatic and beautiful ancient cit­ies in Southeast Asia and to wander the quiet, timeless lanes today is akin to entering a living museum where the past sits comfortably with the present. It’s easy to while away the days in Luang Prabang; taking in the sights, rum­maging through the markets and exploring the temples in a land where life flows as slow and easy as the Mekong itself. (To discover more about cruising down the Mekong go to http://www.asian-oasis.com)