Sometimes - not too often, because life is short - you get gripped with the feeling of having to do something crazy.
Something dangerous. Something for old age, if only the past and a few crazy experiences are left.
And sometimes you don't even know it's going to be dangerous.
It happens every now and then and fits wonderfully into the chapter StoriesIt reminds of other river adventures, not less exciting. For example, the ride on the Nam Ou, in Laos.
Today it's going to happen on the Mekong. On a wonderful morning, a light breeze blowing, the air smelling amazingly like spring. Nothing indicates that in half an hour everything will be different.
Who thinks of fog on a morning like this? Of DENSE fog.
The Passenger
So I'm at the pier at the appointed time, the sun is just rising. A greeting at the right time.
As expected, I am the only passenger, obviously there is nobody else who wants to tackle this little adventure. But it doesn't matter, I think I own a bit of today's trip all by myself. At the beginning there is a discussion about some gas bottles the driver wants to take with him. They are not necessarily the companions I wish for. Only when he pulls out his wallet to give me my money back, I give in.
But I don't believe for a second that they're empty, as he promises me with a convincing smile. Well then, it will be all right.
A word about the boat. It's small, very small. It is a mystery to me how four passengers might squeeze into it when it is fully occupied. Actually there is only one reasonably decent seat, the others are about half a meter long and you sit on the ground. The driver sits at the very back at the steering wheel, his grin already preparing me for what to expect in the next two hours.
The speedboat
It's a speedboat, as I said. This means nothing else than that it will race down the river at top speed (from 50 to 60 km/h), accompanied by the deafening roar of the engine and the sound of the whipped water.
And the driver accelerates, as if he had to show the passenger first and foremost who the boss is.
He doesn't know that this is exactly what I was looking forward to. So we dash off, aiming for the middle of the river, and now we have all the space in the world. Perhaps it might be added that it is shortly after eight and indeed not a single other boat can be seen (an extremely rare occurrence, but one that will contribute somewhat to my reassurance a short time later).
Wall of Fog
Because after a few kilometers something appears in the distance that I can't recognize at first, let alone identify (whoever was driving on the Highway 1 between Los Angeles and San Francisco knows what I'm talking about: coming from the hot south, one can see a wall of fog in the middle of the road from far away that separates the heat from the cold and you have to put on a warm jacket within minutes).
We immerse ourselves in a foggy world; in a matter of seconds, the banks and all other landmarks disappear into an impenetrable soup.
Anyone who thinks that this might be dangerous and that it's better to slow down is mistaken. While I have trouble seeing my own hand in front of my eyes, the driver accelerates as if it were a beautiful sunny afternoon.
Surrendering to fate
Since there's nothing I can do, I have to surrender to fate. So I lean back, button my jacket up to my neck, because it has become very cold. The foggy dew lies down on glasses and clothes, it seems to me as if we were driving through a huge ice-cold sauna.
Only very rarely, when the Laotian shore also disappears into the white, we drive a little slower, but really only a little bit. So the blind ride continues, while I hope that neither a fishing boat nor one of the giant steamers nor any other potential crash object approaches.
But as always (as usual?) Buddha or whoever means well with us, eventually the soup dissolves and the sun breaks through. Now you can finally see the banks, on the right the Thai side, on the left the Laotian side.
A stone's throw away, there is Laos. A little further down, where the river narrows, it gets a bit rougher. We get thrown around, but the boat glides over the worst rapids like a weightless arrow.
And then, the columns of smoke indicate it from afar, Chiang Khong, today's target. The driver is still grinning, I think he has had a very lucrative start to the day. He's not the only one grinning, because a little dream has come true for me too ...
P.S. Matching Song: The Rolling Stones - Doom and Gloom
And here the journey continues ...
