Pak Beng, Laos

We planned to depart Chiang Mai at 10am on a minibus to the Laos border, but the company overbooked so we had to bide our time until 8:30pm that night.  The dreary day lagged on, so thankfully Tim, our favorite bartender, supplied us a room to hold our bags.   We wasted the day away: a blind man gave Ken a massage, I toured the bookstore for hours, and then we sat drinking chai tea at the Starbucks dreaming of our future.  For dinner we ate Mexican food (Ken’s burrito almost did him in, that’s what you get for trying to eat western food in Thailand) and then finally we boarded the minibus for a five hour night ride to the border.  The arctic blast air conditioner was in full effect so we shivered while Ken tried to cuddle under a strangers blanket.

The hotel that night left much to be desired, so we were happy to get out of there asap.  We hopped in the back of a pickup truck and made our way to the Mekong River, where we took a tiny boat seating six people across the river to Laos. 

Onlookers from the shore of the Mekong

We queued up at Laos immigration for over two hours; the sight was pure chaos.  With little organization to be had, aggressive tour guides cut in line at visa processing and tourists huddled en masse trying to get their passports back from unscrupulous (and from my arrogant opinion, sloth-like) officials.   

As a gentleman would, Ken asked the official for my passport when his was returned to him.  He pointed to the only other American passport in the pile of hundreds, assuming it would be mine.  The official (in front of 30 swarming foreigners) held up the passport of a burly bearded man and proclaimed, “what, this your wife?”  Ken, as if on queue, replied “she look better at 2am.”  The crowd cheered with laughter so the passport official dug through the pile to find my passport.  The humor didn’t prevent him though from charging Ken an extra $2 “Sunday fee” aka a bribe for his pocket. 

We took another truck ride to a spot downriver and then boarded a 60 passenger slow boat (which they overloaded with 100 passengers)...it was a boat like nothing we had ever seen before.  The thing was about the length of half a football field and filled to the brim with people.  The first day was less pleasant because we sat near the roaring engine and were crammed for elbow room -- but the views of the scenery more than made up for it.  That night we stayed in a tiny hillside village before another full day of boating.  The second day was much more enjoyable, as we queued up early to get a good seat.  Plus, Shelley got me a shot of Lao whiskey (part kerosene I think) and a bunch of kids sang me Happy Birthday!

Photo taken from boat looking down the Mekong