Take a boat from Vientiane, capital of Laos, and gently drift down through Cambodia and Vietnam, soaking up south-east Asia’s glorious atmosphere, admiring the culture, meeting the people and savouring the food: a romantic travel idea if ever there was one. But as it turned out, the mighty Mekong river had other ideas.
Thankfully, when it transpired that low water levels in Laos had made a trip in any boat larger than a rice barge virtually impossible, the tour operator organising my trip, Scott Dunn, was able to call on its network of locals and expert staff and modify the itinerary. Instead, I would fly to Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, travelling along the Mekong in the other direction as far as possible, then fly from Cambodia to experience the Laotian portion of the river by land. The Mekong had already made it clear who was in charge here, and I was happy to go with the proverbial flow.
My home for the first few nights was to be the Aqua Mekong – a ship one would struggle to describe as pretty, with a dark grey hue and slab sides. Nevertheless, with its shallow draft and high-tech tenders (used to transport passengers ashore to remote villages) it suited our needs perfectly.
