Will be sad to leave Laos - we've really enjoyed our stay. Yes the country is pretty impoverished, but unlike Cambodia no one seems to be living in desperate poverty. The rural houses are similar to their Cambodian counterparts, but most appear to have electricity and large satellite dishes perched outside.
Sun 16 Dec dawns misty and cold, and we rug up for the speedboat north. The tuk tuk takes us 20 minutes out of town up the river, and we wait around for the boats to arrive.
A slow boat goes past and I wonder whether we'd have been better off taking it.
The speed boats look pretty fragile with an oversized engine on the back.
But pretty soon we're under way, and the cold and cramped conditions soon make their presence felt. But after the first toilet stop the sun has burned through, our bodies have adapted, and we enjoy the ride. No danger, just discomfort. Lonely Planet overstates the case when it advises against this trip. Guess it's written for Americans. I did see one passenger with a huge chunk out of her helmet though. Not necessarily thrown from a boat head first onto a jagged rock - perhaps someone just dropped it...
A second school of sardines approaches our stop.
Our EFI Toyota is brand new. It's a bit rough at idle but develops a noisy bark with plenty of torque and power as the revs rise. Makes me wonder how much they've tuned it for river conditions.
The view upstream. Phil, one of our English travelling companions now residing in Norway, had the luxury of slinging his legs ahead on to the baggage.
And from the rear, with our driver intently reading the river ahead. He does a good job and gets us to Houeisay (aka Huay Xai) in one piece.
A tuk tuk driver wants an extortionate 10,000 kip each to take us from the boat landing to the border crossing. We (Phil, Hiro from Osaka, Fi and I) try to argue him down but to no avail. There being no other tuk tuks in sight, we scramble on and head for the border. In hindsight we shouldn't have bothered arguing - I had a spare 20,000 kip which is worthless outside Laos.
Over on the ferry to Chiang Khong in Thailand, just as the sun's setting over the Mekong yet again. Fi insists I don't bore you with the photo. The Thai border doesn't close till 6pm. Just as well since our Lao visa is now useless and we can't go back.
We find the Bamboo Riverside guesthouse at a reasonable price and settle in at the bar. One of the guests recommends the guesthouse restaurant, where their specialty is Mexican! No thanks.
We all set off in to town for an authentic Thai dish on our first night in Thailand, and find a local spot full of Thais. Looks promising. It'a actually a BBQ. A charcoal burner is brought to the table, and strips of meat are roasted on top while noodles and veges are boiled in a moat around the side. We load up on squid, bacon, pork, chicken, cabbage, morning glory, spring onions and condiments, settle back and cook up a feast.
The only detraction is the elections - mobile billboards with loudspeakers blaring patrol the main street, and the restaurant can't serve beer. No worries - I've had a taste of the local brew back at the guesthouse, and it's as good as the rest.
Monday sees us exploring Chiang Khong. A nice little border town, but not a heap to see and do. One of the guests at Bamboo told us of the best massage spot she'd experienced in all of Thailand, and we're keen to check it out. The other option is to do an extended loop to Chiang Rai via the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos and Burma meet (and where a lot of the world's opium is grown). Fate conspires to not have a guide available, so Fi and I enjoy a one hour full body massage.
With fingers, elbows and knees of steel, my masseuse finds evey knotted muscle in my body, and crushes them to a pulp against my bones. Yin and yang - the agony and the ecstacy. A great environment though - a waterfall gurgles in the background while soothing Thai music emanates from the speakers.
After a welcome collapse in to a chair for lunch, we hike the 1km to the bus station for our ride to Chiang Rai. Fi's dying for an ice cream, but as soon as we arrive the bus is about to pull away. We scramble on, mouths parched.
Someone's played hide and seek in the gearbox. We travel for three minutes in first while the driver apparently searches desperately for second. As we gather speed, another three minutes eventuates before we discover third. Perhaps he's waiting to be flagged down - who knows. But finally we're bumping our way through rutted back roads, watching an assortment of passengers, including monks, get on and off. Certainly a local flavour to this bus.
One Thai guy sitting across from me pulls a little compact out of his bag and starts applying what looks like blusher to his face - except in this case it's a white powder. Thais (like Cambodians) value light skin, and do whatever they can to prevent tanning. This guy takes it a bit far. I discuss it with Fi and our our guesthouse owner later and we think it's a bit strange for a guy, and speculate that he may be a bit too pretty.
Countryside is similar to nearby Laos, but the greater prosperity is evident. Farm houses are more solidly constructed, and farm machinery is much more evident.
The trip takes over two hours (a car would do it in less than one), and eventually we reach our destination. We find a guest house and an ice cream in quick succession.
Chiang Rai's a nice sized provincial city - plenty of facilities but not too big. We book our Golden Triangle trip and wander around the night market, where amazingly I come across my Thai paper knife. 250 baht gets negotiated down to 200 (about $7) and I'm very happy.
We eat at the market - prawns, spring rolls and kebabs, washed down with smoothies. I'm enjoying this place.
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