Last day in Thailand??

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You will see why I have put question marks after the title of this blog soon, or you may just have a very good guess as to why.

So today is my last day in Thailand. I have decided to make my way to Laos. I didn't actually book the outward journey with a company as I thought I would leave it up to myself and all I have to do is get a bus to Chiang Khong then cross over the border into Laos via boat.

The evening before while having a BBQ with everyone at my hostel, Nina (the crazy sip sip lady) advised me that the buses were at either 10am or 12pm the following day. Happy about this, I enjoyed my evening, ate food and had a few beers.

The next morning, the day of departure, I shared a tuk tuk with a shih tzu to the bus station and got there before 10am. Only to be told the next bus was at 1pm. I worked this out that I wouldn't be getting into Laos tonight as I had read in my lonely planet book that the border crossing stops at 6pm and the bus journey takes between 6-7 hours.

OK. So what was the worst that could happen? I get thrown into a Thai prison for a day maybe? No. A friend advised me I would have to pay a fine of 500 baht for one day, so this made me feel a little more at ease.

On the bus journey I got chatting to two young chaps from Cirencester (Charlie and Nick) who were also heading to Luang Prabang. When we arrived in Chiang Khong, it was dark and I was worried about how to find accommodation. Luckily enough, there was a Thai lady and her American husband waiting outside the bus station asking if we needed a place to stay. Once she had said the name, I recognised it from my lonely planet book. Decision made. We jumped in the back of the couples wagon and got taken to their guesthouse. It was situated right on the Mekong river, looking over to Laos. The lads and I had dinner and a beer together followed by an early night, as we were being taken to the border in the morning by the lady.

The room was a small dorm with two bunk beds and a single (which I had) and we shared with two German people.

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