Cruising the Upper Mekong aboard Anouvong

Many travellers to Southeast Asia skip Laos altogether, but a new luxury cruise through the country’s northern mountains is the perfect way to meet the locals, Asian elephants, and explore river life in this beautiful under-the-radar nation

The elephant was on a mission. I saw her pause just once in 10 minutes as she unfurled her trunk to grab corn cobs from the hands of a mahout, hoarded them in its kink and then shovelled them into her mouth. Mae Nat, aged 40, is having a health check at the Mekong Elephant Park in Laos. It seems more elephant spa than medical clinic to me, though. With the help of a large wooden support structure, her mahout checks her feet one by one, scratches behind her mottled pink and grey ears, squirts her with water, and sprinkles dust on her back for protection against insects and the sun.

Elephant spa

I’m visiting this Asian elephant sanctuary as part of a river cruise on the upper Mekong. Our boat, Anouvong, has stopped in Pakbeng, halfway between the Laos – Thailand border and our destination Luang Prabang, the city of golden temples in northern Laos.

Before Mae Nat’s spa treatment, we watch a trio of the sanctuary’s elephants walk towards their jungle bath. Mae Nat, rescued from a Japanese circus; her niece Mae Nin, rescued from the Lao logging industry; and her great niece Mae Ping, whose mother was rescued from the logging industry, were all walking towards a deep pool of water. Still finding her feet and mucking about is Mae Ping’s daughter, 13-month-old Boua. It’s such a privilege, I think, to come close to Elephas Maximus and to coo over an elephant calf. This northern forested region of Laos has always been a cradle for Lao elephants, but they now face a precarious future. Laos, the fabled ‘Land of a Million Elephants’ is long gone. Just 300 of these endangered creatures live in the wild; 500 remain in captivity.

Luxury on the Mekong

Our journey continued through this remote region, devoid of large boats, big cities and urban noise. I’d boarded Anouvong at the Laos border of Huay Xai, two hours’ drive from Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. Over four days I’d cruise with English, American, Russian and Canadian passengers 300km downstream to Luang Prabang. Some cruise journeys continue to Vientiane, water level permitting.

Anouvong is the first luxury cruise ship on the upper Mekong. Named after the last king of Vientiane, who met a sorry end in Bangkok in 1829 but is a national hero in Laos, it’s fit for royalty. The teak-floored lounge is decorated in wooden furniture, silk cushions and marble-topped tables. Decoration includes an opium pipe and elephant opium weights – a nod to Laos’ history of production of the drug made from poppy seed sap.  It’s here we’d sip drinks and chat, working our way through the bar’s craft cocktails. Below, our 10 rooms – reached by a carpeted corridor – is lined with beautiful photography, ethnic minority jewellery, objets d’art, and Lao silk weavings.

My signature suite, Nam Khan, one of two on the boat, is huge and I’m very impressed. I have my own private balcony, a large bathroom with double sinks, spacious walk-in shower and hot tub. My elegant bed is spread with a Lao silk runner crafted by the country’s premier silk weaving workshop, which has fulfilled commissions for global fashion houses. Above, my ceiling is stencilled in gold circular patterns. Behind my bed is a ceramic mosaic montage that echoes a mosaic scene found at Luang Prabang’s Temple of the Golden City, where once the monarchs of Laos were crowned. Lao elephants are depicted in the images, too – they were once symbols of an ancient Lao kingdom. At the heart of this kingdom was Luang Prabang.

From my bed I look through a floor-to-ceiling window to the world outside. White buffalos mooch about the sandy riverbanks, and steep slopes with green jungle plummet towards the water, the colour of milky tea. Limestone peaks, darkly forested hills and mountains are the backdrop to my journey. It’s quiet up here save for the occasional local puttering about in a long boat or criss-crossing the river for market, and children splashing about next to their villages at dusk.   

Welcome blessing

On our first afternoon, our guide Khan Keo leads us ashore. At Khon Tuen village we’re welcomed by locals of the Tai Lue ethnic minority. Some 126,000 live in northern Laos. In the village, under the shade of papaya and tamarind trees, they dry chilli in the sun, prepare fish for supper, and grow peanuts on the riverbank.

We sit cross-legged in in a village home, in front of a shaman, for a baci, a welcome ceremony rooted in a belief in the spirit world. Before the shaman is a tray of votive marigold flowers, banana cones and candles. He asks for our spirits to return to our souls, and their return is acknowledged when locals tie white cotton bracelets around our wrists.

On our next visit – to Khok Aek, a Hmong village – we meet dozens of children who have weaved brightly coloured bracelets to sell. The Hmong are the third ethnic minority in Laos and originally migrated from China, through Vietnam to Laos. The village is a hive of activity, with women embroidering and men attending to rice huts where the grain can be stored for a year. The Hmong also make wafer-thin khaipen here, a river weed snack from Mekong weed that is flushed with tamarind water and boiled. Salt and sesame powder are added, and it is deep fried and driedon racks with garlic and tomato slices peppered on top. We taste it for lunch on the boat and it’s incredibly delicious and moreish.

That night on the sun deck, as the sun went down, girls in traditional dress jumped across bamboo poles in an ancestral dance, while a young man twirled as he played the khaen, a traditional bamboo pipe. All the village children boarded the boat and watched, entranced, like us.

Rice wine and river spirits

Close to Luang Prabang at Muang Keo village, we visit a family who make Lao Lao – rice wine – and are knocked out by the smell. The family is surrounded by dozens of blue plastic tubs filled to the brim with fermenting rice. They make around 300 litres a week, they tell us. As well as drinking Lao Lao, the wine is offered to the spirits of their ancestors. I take a shot and it clears my nostrils and burns the back of my throat. I’ll look for sustenance elsewhere, I think.

At the Pak Ou caves, I find it. Centuries ago, the caves, now reached by a flight of stairs up the side of a limestone cliff, were used for the worship of the spirits of the river and the sky. When an ancient king introduced Buddhism to the country, thousands of statues of the Buddha, in bronze and wood, were placed at the mouths of the caves. And before a Lao monarch was crowned, he’d visit the caves for meditation. It is an incredibly spiritual spot.

Pak Ou was also once considered the gateway to the city where the spirits of the cave and water were worshipped as travellers headed in and out. We were on our way in to beautiful Luang Prabang on the Anouvong, so it made sense to remember the souls of the protectors and the endangered elephants, as we glided past the stencilled temples, coconut palms, and beautiful French colonial homes we were yet to explore.

Journey Notes

Vietnam Airlines offers flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi and to Chiang Rai via Bangkok. Vietnamairlines.com

Inside Asia Tours in Brisbane can arrange travel on the Anouvong and beyond. InsideAsiaTours.com

For details on the Anouvong visit heritage-line.com.

In Luang Prabang, luxury accommodation is available at La Résidence Phou Vao, A Belmond Hotel.

Good to know

Time your journey for the Festival of Lights, Boun Lai Heua Fai, in Luang Prabang, celebrated on the full moon each October. It marks the end of Buddhist Lent, Boun Awk Phansa. The water spirits of the Mekong River are honoured with a beautiful, illuminated fire boat parade on the river, and the city is lit with pretty lanterns and candles. The fire boats carry away back luck.

While you’re here

Rise early to witness the dawn ritual of morning alms giving (tak bat) in Luang Prabang. Monks in saffron robes walk the streets of the city in silence, collecting sticky rice and food in bowls for breakfast and lunch. Ask your hotel to arrange alms giving for you, using freshly cooked rice.