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Other entries in Chiang Khong

Border to Thailand

The bus ride to Chaing Kong fun and a lot better than the squashy ride the previous day. Our bus delivered mail to villages along the way without actually stopping.  The driver slowed down and the conductor held the mail out the door for villagers to catch and distribute.  In some towns we just left the mail on the side of the road.  One delivery included a car tyre.

In Chiang Kong  we jumped into two very clapped out old tuk tuks to carry us to the border crossing.

After we completed the simple exit formalities on the Thai side we took a little dingy across the Mekong and into Lao Peoples Democratic Republic. We had arranged our Lao visas in Bangkok so we just needed the entrance stamp and away we went - after we paid the 20 baht "overtime" to the border guards. If this is communism in action then I didn't like it already.

Huay Si is a bit of a dump of a town where everyone spents a night after crossing the border before heading off in their respective directions. There are basically two directions you can go, down river to Luang Prabang on either a slow boat (relaxed two days) or fast boat (six hours at break neck speed and really loud), or up river to Luang Namta either by Boat (2 days) or by bus (on a bone rattling 12 hours along muddy mountain roads). We asked around for any boats going up river but had no luck so we settled on a private boat going down river to the old Royal Capital, Luang Prabang.

We then relaxed, settled in, and sampled some of the very fine beer Lao - if this is what communists drink then I was starting to like it again!

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