Our adventure to Laos began in a minibus. We left Chiang Mai at noon and travelled most of the day to the border town on Chiang Khong in North Eastern Thailand. We spent the night here on the edge of the Mekong ready to cross over into Laos early the next morning. We ended up crossing the river in a longtail boat and trekked up to "immigration" before being driven a few k's to the location of the slowboat. The name slowboat isn't just a clever name, it fittingly describes the journey it makes, taking 2 days to potter downstream before finally arriving at its destination, Luang Probang. We found this preferable to the speed boat option however, hearing reports of hell raising trips, only taking 7 hours and dodging all manner of rocks and floating
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