Day 230 - Back to Thailand

Houay Xai sits on the Laos side of the Mekong. Chiang Khong occupies on the Thai side. At one point, there were plans to build a bridge to connect the two, but the economic crash of 1997 put the skids on those plans, and they have yet to be resumed. As of today, small longtail boats ferry people and goods back and forth across the border for a small fee.

Once on the Thai side, one walks through the imposing welcome gate to the far less imposing customs house where a bored official stamps passports after a cursory glance. There is none of the 'paying for the stamp' and visa-questioning malarky that we have encountered at half the other wayside posts. Thailand is probably the most developed of the mainland SE asian countries (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam), and the ease of entry seems proof of this.

Within a few minutes, we have purchased our bus ticket for Chiang Mai, paid a visit to the 7-11 (they are everywhere in Thailand), and even caught up on e-mails. It is sort of nice being back where nearly everything is easy and familiar. Along with being the most developed, Thailand is easily the most Western of the SE Asian nations. A strange phenominon considering that it was the only one never a Western colony.

A long bus ride later, we finally arrive in Chiang Mai. No one seems to know where our guesthosue is, so we go online to get the address and some rudimentary direction. We hail a tuk-tuk driver who swears up an down that he knows out guesthouse. He does not. We circle the city for ages while he asks all his fellow drivers how to get there. FINALLY we find it tucked away on a quiet residential street.

We are met by our friend J, who we met in Bangkok, and are soon happily chatting away with the other guests and watching American TV series on pirated DVD's. Most of the guests here planned to stay for a few days, and have ended up staying here two weeks or more. It is a friendly, homey place, and easy to see the appeal. I'm sort of sad to have the hard departure date because of the flight, but glad to be leaving on a high note.

Day 229 - Same Same...

...But different. That's what all the vendors say when you try to compare their goods with the stall next door. The same could be applied to our second day on the river.

The morning seemd to indicate another day of cold and rain, but a few hours in, the clouds broke, and blue rain-washed skys shone down. The weather was perfect - like October on the East coast - warm sun, cool breeze, and clear air all around.

According to Cz, this was perfect napping weather.

Since the paving of many roads in Laos, river travel has in many places been relegated to tourist traffic. Read: Too expensive for us. Hence, we have had to scrap the idea of going by water from Cambodia through Laos, and have had to rely primarily on the far less romantic, but much cheaper buses. However, there is no direct road from Luang Prabang to the border. Or rather, the road exists, but it is unpaved and tortuously windy, so many people, locals included, still use the river routes. Our boat was probably half locals, and half foreigners. As we motored, we passed other boats laden with cargo, people, even one with a herd of patient buffalo on board.

All along the banks, life continued as I imagine it has for centuries. Little boys splashed and fished. Men hauled fishing nets and set traps, and ladies washed children and clothes in equal measure. Above the water line, whole families worked together to knock the seeds out of grasses and lay them out to dry for the new year's thatch.

As we neared Huay Xai, the border town where we would be spending the night, the sun graced us with a final glorious setting on the Mekong. It was a fine farewell to Laos.

Day 228 - Monks and the Mekong

We woke up early this morning to join our neighbor lady in giving alms to the monks. I know they are supposed to give up worldly desires, but surely they must get bored with oranges and sticky rice. In fact, this morning, one novice did close the lid of his begging bowl to prevent the orange from going in. I think I should have bought those strawberry lollies I saw at one of the convenience stores!

After the last of the monks passed by, we collected our bags, and set off for the ferry dock to begin day one of our 2-day foray up the Mekong to the Thai border. The weather was absolutly wretched - grey and rainy and cold. We were very happy to not only be bundled up in our fleeces, but also to burrow under our sleeping bag for most of the journey.

The rain did have the bonus of cloaking the surounding mountains with misty clouds, giving them a bit of atmospheric drama which they had been lacking. As stated before, after the Himalayas, mountains really have to work hard to impress us.

Even the few days of rain upriver, and now on-river caused the river to surge along in a chocolate-coloured sheet. Every now and then a whirlpool or eddy would catch the boat and give it a litttle shake, just to remind us that this is the Mighty Mekong, not some little backwater tributary.

We arrived in Pak Beng, about halfway between Luang Prabang and the Thai Border at dusk. The way up from the ferry dock involved scrambling up a steep rocky-muddy slope in the half dark. Cz was not pleased. We arrived at our guesthouse which had mercifully hot showers and clean bathrooms. After taking advantage of the oh-so-civilised facilties, we wadered back into town (which seemed a much shorter walk going downhill and pack-free) for some well-deserved curry and rice.

Tomorrow we look forward to more of the same. The rain was pretty, but I hope for, if not sun, at least warm.

Day 215 - In Cambodia...

...Tarantulas are not pets. They are a tasty snack fried up with soy sauce and garlic. The bus ride from Phnom Penh to Kratie was eventful only in the snack foods sold at each rest stop. Stop one had the widest selection offering tarantulas, crickets, grasshoppers, silkworm grubs, even what looked like shiny black roaches. I sampled the spiders - surprisingly tasty. They tasted like (and had a texture remarkably similar to) fried softshell crab legs.


...Honda Hero motorbikes are the main set of wheels. Them and Toyota Camrys with souped up suspensions to handle the largely unpaved roads. The little motorbikes zip around on every road serving as family car, cargo truck, and taxi all rolled into one.

...The river has dolphins in it. The Mekong is one of the last remaining places where Irrawaddy river dolphins survive in the wild. They went extinct in China in 2006 or 7. There are only about 75-100 left in the Mekong, and about half of those live around Kratie. We took a boat out to see them, and actually got quite close. Unfortunately for the pictures, they are quite fast, usually disappearing with a splash right about the time the camera clicks. That grey 'log' in the left part of the frame is actually a 6' dolphin peering at the boat.

...Children think swatting each other with flowers is a fine game.

...Red sunsets spill across the Mekong as fishing boats and ferries slowly chug towards home.