slow boat to luang prabang

From the laos boarder town we caught a slow-boat which took 2 days down the Mekong river to a pretty French-colonial town called luang prabang. The slow-boat was one of only two methods of transportation to LP. The speedboat was the other one, though it’s incredibly dangerous to take it during the dry season and you’re always provided with crash-helmets, which usually isn’t enough to protect you from almost certain death by Mekong.
The slow boat had hard benches and was crammed with backpackers. The smoke was dense as often either side of the river was blazing. It was about 8 hours each day but we survived it somehow. We met a Canadian guy named Ray who was great company for the next few days. After the first day we stopped at a riverside town called pak beng where we stayed in a guesthouse, got some dinner and breakfast, and set off again in the morning. Finally around dinnertime of the second day we made it to Luang Prabang, and it was well-worth the journey.