Readjusting

After a morning stroll up to Doi Tong, a small hillock on the edge of town with a Buddhist cairn, somewhat ambitiously likened to Stonehenge by Rough Guide, I headed for the bus station and located the local bus bound for Chiang Khong- an easy 2 hour journey through stunning countryside.

Chiang Kong - Houay Xai border crossing

At this stage I was still undecided as to whether to stop overnight in Chiang Khong and take the ferry across to Houay Xai in the morning to connect directly with the slow boat to Luang Prabang, or whether to cross the border into Laos today.. but having singularly failed to get a straight answer out of anyone in Chiang Khong about both the departure time of the slow boat and what time the border crossing opened for business in the morning, I eventually decided to play it safe and cross into Laos today.

View across to the Mekong from Doi Tong

The border crossing is quite a surreal experience: your passport is stamped out of Thailand on one side of the river, after which you cross to the opposite bank by longtail boat, show your visa and voila, you've entered Laos.

T he difference between the towns on either side of the river has really taken me aback. Whereas Chiang Khong is a typical, developed Thai town with fully stocked shops, ATM's etc. etc. (albeit along a single street), Houay Xai is incredibly basic- essentially just a string of guesthouses, a single currency exchange office and one or two shops stocking a bare minimum of products. Everything suddenly feels very alien- prices in thousands of kip, menus with a meagre selection of unidentifiable dishes (bang goes my dream of one last Thai green curry tonight!), a new language.... it's going to take some adjusting.

Anyway, I've successfully booked myself onto tomorrow's slow boat for the 2 day river trip down to Luang Prabang (10:00 departure so I could in actual fact have made the border crossing in the morning..) and am set for the next leg of my trip. I have mixed feelings about the next couple of days: the slow boat trip down the Mekong is meant to be one of the quintessential experiences of travel in SE Asia.. but 2 days rammed on a hard wooden bench with God knows how many other tourists, aboard what amounts to a cargo boat, also promises to be both uncomfortable and boring. Here's hoping the scenery is worth it!