Two Days on a River: Slow Boating to Luang Prabang.

Rivers themselves almost always look the same.  
{The Mekong River between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang is no different.}

It's their shorelines that change mostly.  

If the water swirls around tree stumps or flows gently onto soft white sand.

Or if it crashes against a series of rocks or if it lies smooth and still like glass.

Sometimes the color of the water may change depending on depth or light from above.

But rarely does it change enough to make you remember.

I don't think the sameness takes away the beauty.  

Perhaps it adds to it, creating a sensation of familiarity regardless of the alienness of the place.  

I think that being on a boat brings a similar feeling of familiarity.

The slow pace and the slightly rocky movement remind us of prior experiences -- be it for a few minutes or for two seven hour days.

It is a form of transportation that forces a traveler to slow down.  

It forces a traveler to be in the moment.  

To rest, sit, and be.  

To take in the beauty of a part of the world I never thought I would see.