Luang Prabang - Huay Xai

Friday morning I was up early to take the slow boat to the border so that I could cross into Thailand and head down to Chang Mai.

The slow boat was a long thin wodden boat with wooden seats (some with cushions, I managed to get one!) and very little leg room. It's a two day trip to Huay Xai along the Mekong River.

The first day took us about 10 hours to get to Pakbeng, the half way stop. There's not much to do in Pakbeng really, it's mostly a stop over point for the slow boats, so it has a few guesthouses and a few restaurants. I found a room for 500baht but managed to pay 400b as the electricity wasn't working! A quick dinner and then straight to bed, no wandering the streets that night in the pitch black!

The next day we had another 9 hour trip to Huay Xai. It was a nice way to do the journey as again, the scenery is beautiful and it's very chilled. We saw the speed boats going passed (it takes them 8 hours to do what took us 2 days!) but I don't think I would have enjoyed that as much. You don't get to see anything and your crammed in with your knees by your elbows for the whole trip. We had a nice group of people on our boat too and it wasn't too busy so we were able to stretch out a little.

Another overnight stay at the border town and then the next day I took the short ferry crossing over the Thailand. I then took the short ferry ride back to Laos as I'd forgotten to get stamped out of the country and then I took the short ferry ride back to Thailand again. I've now been to Laos twice and Thailand 3 times!

Getting a bus down to Chang Mai took a little more effort than I thought it would. My motorbike man dropped me off at a guest house and not the bus station and then my tuk tuk driver dropped me off at the market and not the bus station. I eventually found somewhere that sold bus tickets to Chaing Mai and was on my way.

Another 6 hour trip on a hot bus. I also had the unfortunate luck to get a drunk Thai police border control man sat next to me for some of the journey. He told me that I was beautiful (couldn't really argue with him about that!) and wanted to place his hand on my leg or squeeze into me as much as possible. I told him that no, this was not something that I was going to allow and studiously read my book. Luckily he got off after a short while. Sometimes I really don't like mixing with the locals!!

So here I am, in Chaing Mai. Today I have wondered the streets and found a new place to stay as the place last night was a little dirty. Tomorrow I am having a day learning Thai Cuisine and then I might do another trek on Wednesday and then it's back to Bangkok and see what I can fit in before I have to be in Singapore.