see article in http://www.activeover50.com/articles/fall-12/AO50_Fall_2012-mankin-meditation.pdf or http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-mankin/a-mekong-meditation_b_1992304.html.

Photos (all of the photos were taken by me, except the one of me. Unfortunately I don’t remember who took it. I was too blissed out):

top deck

view from top deck

early morning on the river

Wat Phou

temple at Wat Phou

I got a little too close

exotic river mammals

a small section of the Khone Falls

in the midst of the 4000 islands

Recommendation:

Lernidee Trains and Cruises handles pretty much everything from Pakse, Lao at the start of the trip back to Pakse at the end. All you have to do is get to Pakse. The easiest way, flying from Bangkok via the capital city of Vientiane, can be pretty expensive — almost $500.

An alternative, flying from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani in NE Thailand, is much less expensive, even adding in the cost of the transfers between the airport and Pakse (the transfers can be arranged by Lernidee). This does add another 2-3 hours to your travel time, but its a pretty interesting drive through the hinterlands of Thailand and Laos, not to mention the border crossing which is an adventure in itself.

If you decide to do the transfer, I recommend that you tip the driver in Thailand when he drops you off at the border crossing. I gave him 100 Baht (about $3) and he made what looked to me like a special effort to meet me on the other side and hand me over to the driver for the Lao portion of the transfer.