Chiang Khong, Huay Xai (Laos), Pak Beng, Luang Prabang

Arrived in Chiang Khong from Chiang Rai on Monday afternoon after an uneventful if somewhat bumpy 4 hour ride (Think no padding on metal seats, Think no suspension left on bus, Think lots of potholes).
Chiang Khong is another 1 street town and is only there because Laos is 200m across the Mekong. Rented a moped and went bombing up to the Golden Triangle (Where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet). The place itself is uneventful but the ride up there was out of this world, basically following the Mekong upstream through undulating hills and paddy fields. I nearly crashed a couple of times because the views were so breathtaking. On the way back we (myself and a cool english Bloke called Kam) miscalculated the distance so we ended up driving back in the dark. Street lighting is naturally unknown in these parts so it was fairly pitch black (except for 33 billion stars). To add to the excitement the fuel gauge hit empty about 20km from home and about 2km later we were waved down by some strange looking soilders / militia / policemen, but as soon as they saw we were farang (Thai for "westerners") they waved us on. Ok, so we got home in one piece with the fuel needle dangling off the edge. Beer, Bed.

The next morning we hopped across to Laos after getting stamped out of Thailand and into Laos (correct pronunciation confirmed as "Lao"). Then onto the 2 day boat ride down to Luang Prabang. The ferry was excellent, the views of the Mekong amazing and it was generally good craic being on a boat with 30 backpackers for 2 days with lots of beer and other stuff floating around. There were also only wooden benches to sit on so most of us just sprawled on the floor and played dead.

Luang Prabang / Laos makes Pai in Thailand look like London @ Rush hour. It is wonderfully chilled out, with hundreds of monks in their orange robes strolling around. Everbody (and I mean everybody) says sabaii-dii (hello), even shouting it from across the street. Add the fact that 80% of the people walk round with a beaming smile on their face and you get the impression the the Laotians know (or at least are smoking) something we in the west don't. I started playing football with some kids on the side of the road and within 10 minutes word spread around town and there were suddenly 20 kids all laughing their heads off and playing footie with the tall falang.

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