Our guesthouse in Pak Beng

Our room was less than $4.

Mist in the hills around Pak Beng

Arrival in Pak Beng

Seven hours from Huay Xai, we arrived in Pak Beng, a small town on the Mekong halfway to Luang Prabang. This town exists only for the boat traffic up and down the Mekong.

River commerce

Our boat pulled up along this barge (loaded with teak) to sell them a chicken. Our boat stopped along the way whenever someone signalled us over. Sometimes Laotians on our bought meat from the villagers; this time they sold meat to these barge people.

Big village along the Mekong

This was the largest village we noticed aside from Huay Xai, Pak Beng, and Luang Prabang.

Wall of backpacks

Laos is supposed to be in the infant stages of tourism, but this wall of backpacks on our boat indicates otherwise.

Travelling down the Mekong

Like a big slumber party this was.

Crowded boat down the Mekong

The foreigners were packed in the front half of the boat, and the locals travelled in the back. There were a limited number of benches, so we sat spread on the floormats. It was actually quite nice and relaxing, picnicking, and listening to tunes while floating down the Mekong on a nice overcast day.

On the ferry to Laos!

A seven-minute boat ride across the Mekong River took us from Chiang Khong (Thailand) to Huay Xai (Laos).

Leaving Thailand

This gate was at the ferry boat landing in Chiang Khong.

Tuk-tuk ride in Chiang Mai

On our way to the bus station.

Another night at Bubbles

Aryca, Emily, me, and Rob well-pickled at Bubbles.

Hey, I know you!

At Rasta Bar, I ran into Mel, a French dude working in Chiang Mai whom I had met in Mae Sot. He works with an organization that is helping to build the foundations for democracy in Myanmar.

Rasta bar, or Koon's II

We went to the Rasta bar in Chiang Mai to meet up with a friend, but ran into a whole slew of folks from Mae Sot. I felt like I was back at Koon's! Here's Lindsay, Rob, and Maria.

Matt, Zoe, and Katelin at Bubbles

These guys were staying at the guesthouse too. Matt just finished university in the UK. Zoe is British and Katelin is German.

Ben and Eduard

These were a couple lawyers from Paris whom we met at the guesthouse in Chiang Mai. I got obliterated this night and paid for it the next day.

Chinese food in Chiang Mai

On my last weekend in Chiang Mai, Emily and Val came up from Mae Sot. We went to get some great Chinese food.

Back in Mae Sot?! (Don't ask, don't ask.)

Vientiane, the capital of Laos, was closed when we got there. Just kidding. Actually, it had been closed for the week prior to arrival, opening back up the day we arrived. The ASEAN conference had been going on and all backpackers had been kicked out for security reasons. It was a short 3.5-hour bus trip to Vientiane from Vang Vieng. We arrived on a Sunday, so most of the stores and sights were closed, but we were able to stroll around their streets (some paved, some gravelled), the whole time thinking, "This is the CAPITAL?!" There were no skyscrapers in sight. We saw an old stupa, the main boulevard that runs between the Arc d'Triomphe-like Patuaxi (Victory Monument) archway and the Presidential Palace, and strolled along the Mekong River. It was nice to see the super-high wall and street blocked off around the US Embassy -- as close to "home" as I've gotten on this trip.
In Vientiane, we dined on some excellent French food. That's pretty much it.
The next day we got up early to start our trip back to Thailand. It took all day and three buses to get from the eastern side to the western side of Thailand. I have returned to the warm bosom of Mae Sot: cheap 20 BHT meals, 5 BHT samosas, and 15 BHT/hr internet. I'm waiting around getting some visas and visiting friends, some of whom appeared to be in the burnt out state that I found myself in a month ago. My, how a month out and about can change things.

Friends in Vang Vieng

We're in Vang Vieng now. It's a beautiful setting with limestone karsts and rivers. It's a small town that sprouted about around a now-disused landing strip (from the war?), and now filled with backpacker cafes with episodes of "Friends" playing back-to-back -- strange, I know, but the surrounding is fantastic. We visited a cave today and swam in a cool natural spring coming from the mountain. This place is magical. We've decided to forgo going to the Plain of Jars for more rest-time here. From here, we'll head to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Coming down through Laos, I ran into a couple of friends from Mae Sot, Hanna and Caroline, who were headed up the Mekong. I've also run into a Dutch dude that I met in Mae Sot on my last night there, saw again in Chiang Mai, and again in Luang Prabang, and again today. This is a small world. It is wierd how well-tread the beaten path is in Southeast Asia. When I was leaving Chiang Mai, I ran into a whole group of Mae Sot volunteers in a bar. We had a good time hanging out -- I could have sworn I was still in Mae Sot!

Laos, baby, LAOS!

I'm in Luang Prabang, Laos! I and a couple friends (Emily and Rob), took a seven-hour bus journey from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong, a border town in Thailand on the Mekong River. It was hot (a barely functioning air-conditioning and no vents over our bench!) and crowded, but I finally made it out of Chiang Mai! The next morning, we took a small dugout across the Mekong to Huay Xai, the border town in Laos (Laos, baby, LAOS!) and got on the slow boat to Luang Prabang.
The slow boat down the Mekong River takes two days, stopping overnight in Pak Beng, a town that exists only for the trip to Luang Prabang, as far as I can tell. Along the Mekong are dozens of small villages, isolated from the rest of the world if not for the Mekong River traffic. They consist of a few ramshackled elevated huts made from woven reeds. The boat stopped off at a few places to buy and sell wild boar and chickens to these river folks. There were a few water buffaloes grazing by the river. I felt like I had gone back in time.
Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is gorgeous and small. The food here is wonderful. There is a mixture of French and Laotian cuisine that is out of this world, after almost four months of Thai food. I love Thai food, but this is simply amazing. Today we sat by the Mekong having Beer Lao (fantastic!) and some spring rolls and a nice Lao salad. I cannot describe how perfect it is here. This country place is pretty run down, but there are a lot of old French Colonial buildings. Things close down early (11:30 pm). I'm not sure why, but probably for security reasons. Tomorrow we plan to head to Vang Vieng.
Lao, baby, Laos!