Day 6 - Chiang Rai to Pakbeng

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Today started super early as we had a lot to do. We had some breakfast and we were ready for the bus at 6:45am; not everyone else was though, much to the displeasure of others, some of the group was still fast asleep as they had not got in until about 5:00am. Finally we were underway though, just after 7:10am.
Today we were crossing the border from Thailand to Laos. The drive to the border was short, only about 2hours; most of which everyone slept.
On reaching the border we had to take our passports to get stamped to say that we left Thailand then we had to get in little boats, cross the river and get off on the other side in Laos.
Once on the other side we had to get our visas; for Australians this cost US$30. We also said goodbye to our Thai Baht and change our money into Laos Kip. Basically the conversion is 8000kip to US$1.
We got in tuk tuks and made our way for about 10minutes to a spot along the river where our boat, our transport for the next two days was waiting for us.
We'd already been told to pack a small back with clothes and toiletries for a overnight stay as our suitcases were being stored under the boat. The boat was quite big. It had a deck area that fitted about 10 deck chairs and a roof that slid open and closed, then there was a section that had about 8 booth-type seated areas that fitted 4 people in each. Then there was and open area that had an 8-seater dining table and chairs in it which is where they served our meals. Then there was a small bar at the end that you could buy drinks etc then byond that was 2 toilets and then the living quarters of the boat owners. All very comfy really.
After about an hour on the boat we were served lunch. It was a buffet kind of deal which had things like rice, veggies, fried chicken and a few other things.
After lunch there wasn't a lot to do but just cruise the river and watch the world go by. The scenery was stunning; lush green forest, murky brown water (not polluted, just naturally that way), bright blue sky and the sun was shining... I wondered what the poor people were doing.
We talked, moved around the boat, journalled, napped, snacked and relaxed for the next five hours or so.. Just on sunset we arrived at our home for the night, the tiny little village of Pakbeng, Laos.
When we 'docked' we were greeted by heaps of local kids asking if they could carry our bags for us for a small fee. They were so cute it was hard to resist but having already lost confidence in the locals in Bangkok thanks to my purse being stolen, I held on tight to my belongings, a lot of the others handed their stuff over.
We walked up the hill to our 'guesthouse', walked in via the 'eating area' that overlooked the river so had our hopes set at a decent level for our rooms. Well, our rooms were, different.
They had 2 single beds, a desk, a bedside table between the two beds that you couldn't reach from either bed..but the best bit was the bathroom. When you open the door there was the basin on the left, then the toilet then just an open shower on the wall. Now, I'm all for open showers but there was nothing about this that looked right. Usually there is some sort of screen, not this one, this one was just the whole bathroom, and there was all sorts of rust stains etc on the walls and floor.
We didn't havelong to get cleaned up before dinner so we made our way up the stairs to the level above that had a balcony type area that overlooked the river. A group of us sat around and swapped stories until it was time to eat.
Dinner was at 7:00pm. On the table tonight was rice, mixed veggies, curried beef and ginger, beef and noodle soup and spring rolls. Dessert was bananas and papaya.
After dinner we went back up to the balcony and again sat around for a bit and chatted.

Now, this is kind of gross, a lil un-necessary but makes me laugh so I'm going to tell it.
While we were sitting Matt disappeared for a while. On his return he informed us that he had gone to 'relieve' himself but after doing so he realised that there was no toilet paper. Nevermind the fact that their room was literally right where we were all sitting on the balcony so he could have just yelled out to someone. So, instead he sat there trying to figure out what to do. He informed us that, after searching his wallet for even a reciept, in the end he decided on using a 1000kip note (equivalent to about 15c). We were all in hysterics because it was only a few days earlier that blonde Lucy had mentioned she tought about doing that but didn't and Matt had said how gross it was. We finally stopped laughing only to point out that it was possibly the dirtiest and most germy thing he could have used. To which, after a few minutes of considering this point, he jumped up and said he was going for a shower. Highly amusing.

After all this we decided to go for a walk in the 'town' (there is only 200 people that live here). There isn't much to it, a few bars, a very small grocerie store and a few other little places. On the way the guys got offered several times marijuana and opium but politely declined. We were warned about this by Dean who said "Don't you dare! This is your warning, I won't be fishing you out of a Laos jail". Enough said.
It made me laugh, I could get better mobile reception here, in the middle of the jungle than I can get in half the places in Australia. In saying that, there was a local girl riding her motorbike down the road while talking on her mobile and I thought "who on earth is she talking to? everyone in the town would be practically be within shouting distance!"
We walked for a bit more before returning to the hotel for more of a chat on the balcony before retiring to bed.
Bed was interesting. Jackie and I pulled the sheets back to discover so many bugs under them, so, we grabbed the Aeroguard and sprayed down all the sheets and completely drenched ourselves in it too. I refused to use the pillow, instead i used my neck pillow that I use on the plane. We got to sleep fairly fast though as, even though we hadn't done that much during the day, we were completely knackered.


Quotes:
- "I just wiped my ass with a 1000kip note" - Matt after he did
- "If you need to take a sh!t mate lemme know and I'll bring my wallet" - Luke said to Matt

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