Boat Ride to the Border: Nong Kiew to Vietnam

Our K-Brethren, Mingyu/seong, have this awesome political deal with most of Southeast Asia. Since Korea is part of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, like NATO but for Asia), and by far the most economically advanced member, Koreans get free 15-day stays in most countries out here, while we mere 'muricans have to pay for our visas, usually in 30 day increments. What this means though is that we have to be careful about time, because two weeks isn't very long, and Mingyu and Minseong need to be able to hop across a border in back if it looks like they're going to run out of time. Which is exactly what happened when we got near the Laos/Vietnam border, so we tossed our bikes on a boat, and then subsequently rode an epic 12-hour day to get to the land of Pho.

 

This is mostly how it went:

Depart Nong Khiew, sleepy riverside backpacker village.

Board this tiny boat, about 15 feet long and 3 feet wide, that sits 6 inches deep in the water.

Look at the scenery, passersby,

Let our arms and legs hang out a little,

 

 

Be terrified about half the time,

Six hours later, we're there, mostly safe and sound! One night's sleep and it's an epic 100km ride over two huge mountains to:

Yes! We made it!

Why they put the border post at the top of the tallest mountain is beyond me, and we spent the last two hours of the ride careening down steep gravelly slopes in the dark towards Bien Dien Phu, the nearest Vietnamese town, where we were greeted by these two beautiful women.

All in all, a good end to an epic journey.