Crossing the Laos Border

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Built and funded solely by a local artist, the building of Wat Rung Khun commenced in 1997 and is now one of the focal points of Northern Thailand. The artist, in his own words, wanted to build the best temple in the world and will not stop until he feels he has achieved this. He has funded the project through sales of his artwork, and refuses to accept any donations. Further, he claims that he doesn’t want anything in return- not even credit or compliments of his work. Pauline described him as an arrogant man! The buildings of the temple are in themselves incredible, and after seeing so many temples in the past week I didn’t think I’d be saying that. However, the pure whiteness of the buildings is in such contrast to everything else I had seen. Comically, the artist is of the impression that going to the toilet should be a pleasant experience, and to this end designed the ‘Golden Temple’ for use by Royal and other prestigious visitors!

Following lunch, it was back on the road for two hours to reach the border town of Chiang Khong. We were staying in a lovely wooden guesthouse with great views directly onto the Mekong River, and across it to Laos. Not much to see or do in the town itself- a tiny place whose basic existence seemed to be to serve as the border town between Thailand and Laos. We had a really nice Thai buffet dinner at the guesthouse itself and after had a few drinks on one of the balconies overlooking the Mekong River- a nice relaxing way to round off the day.

Had a pretty dodgy sleep that night- not entirely sure if it was due to the hard mattress or one too many beers. Speaking of beer- last night was the first (and by no means last) appearance of Beer Lao- branded as ‘the best beer of Laos’. It’s such an awesome beer I didn’t bother comparing to other Laos beers- let’s hope it’s exported to Scotland sometime soon! Anyway, a dodgy sleep so was up at the crack of dawn. Decided to go for a run seeing as it was still pretty cloudy and relatively cool. Turned out to be a good decision- a really relaxing 40min run alongside the banks of the Mekong River. After a quick shower and breakfast at the lodge we headed for the border in a couple of local minivans around 9. Having a tour guide when crossing these kinds of borders comes in most handy- otherwise could be there for most of the day! Our passports were stamped to show we’d left Thailand, and we boarded what I can only describe as a glorified fishing boat to take us directly across the Mekong River to Laos.

Once we had hauled ourselves and our luggage off the boat to shore, we met Chan, our local Laos Guide. The law in Laos states that touring parties must be guided by a local person, and this is especially enforced at border crossings. Technically, if Pauline were caught giving us any information about Laos whilst in the country, she could get into serious trouble. But anyway, sounds like a good scheme by the Laos government to get more locals into jobs! Chan was a really funny little chap, with the type of laugh that makes you smile every time you hear it. We passed through the Laos side of the border with no problems, and changed money into the local currency- the Kip. ₤1 exchanged to around 16,000 Kip, so needless to say we all became instant millionaires!

We transferred by local tut tuts to our boat (prob classified as a barge) for our two day cruise down the Mekong River. Have to dash, will continue with cruise down Mekong River next time...

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