Chiang Rai and the Slow Boat

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Chiang Rai

Sorry it has taken a while to update...things have been going well. We left Chiang Mai on the 9th to travel to Chiang Rai. The journey by bus was beautiful and we arrived in Chiang Rai without any problems. We were lucky to have some connections in this city who picked us up from the bus station and we stayed at their family run hotel. The hotel was called the Pimann Inn and it was probably the nicest accommodation we have had yet. For $15 a night we had a clean, air conditioned room, wi-fi, a huge pool and best of all... a gym! As you can imagine the hulk (aka Ash) was pretty excited about this place. We spent our time in Chiang Rai relaxing and wandering around the city. Found some great coffee shops and I was in my glory as there was a driving range within walking distance from our hotel. We went down there one night and spent a few hours hitting balls which was fun, although it will be nice to play at home with my own clubs. After a few days in Chiang Rai we moved on to Chiang Khong which is a border town on the way into Laos. The place we stayed in Chiang Khong wasn't very nice and we had to buy some mosquito nets but for $4 a night you can't expect much!

Slow Boat into Laos

The next morning we got up early to head across the border into Laos. We decided to pay a little extra to get a package deal which included transport across the border, boat tickets, and a hotel in Pak Beng where we would stop for the night. The travel agency was called Easy Trip and it was definitely worth the extra money. We had someone guiding us the entire way across the border and we were the first ones through immigration to get our visas. After a few hours it was time for everyone to pile onto the boat and we were pleasantly surprised. I had heard horror stories about the two day boat journey but we got to the pier early enough that we were able to scam a few of the comfortable seats. Basically we were old bucket seats that had been ripped out of a car but they were far more comfortable than the alternative.. wooden church pews.

The first day on the boat wasn't bad at all. There were a few Canadians on the boat and the rest were European...the Europeans entertained themselves for the first hour by making fun of our Canadian accents. Eventually, the boat turned into what I would describe as a floating bar...tons of people smoking and getting drunk on rum and Beer Lao.. it was entertaining to say the least. After 7 hours of travel we finally arrived in Pak Beng. Our tour company organized a room at Mon Sa Van Guesthouse which was one of the nicer places in town (apparently most of the guesthouses are infested with rats and cockroaches). We went for dinner at a great little Indian restaurant overlooking the Mekong river and after our feast we decided to call it a night.

The next morning we got up early in order to get good seats on the boat to Luang Prabang. Again we were lucky enough to get cushioned chairs as they had moved us to a smaller boat with more wooden benches. The second day was a bit more challenging...out of the 70 people on the boat there were only about 5 of us who weren't smoking so by the end of the 9 hour day it was a relief to breathe fresh air. We found a great guesthouse in Luang Prabang and wandered around the night market in the evening. So far Luang Prabang has been our favorite city in S.E.A. It has a huge french influence so the food is amazing and the scenery is beautiful. Today we wandered around the city and had some banana/nutella crepes for breakfast which set us back $1...delicious. We also booked a trip to go to some waterfalls tomorrow and we will head south to Vang Vieng on Monday. Again sorry for no pictures.. internet here is too slow to upload anything.

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