Travel blog: Across the Thai border to Laos

Anna Kainberger is taking a year-out from her career to travel in south-east Asia, Australasia and the South Pacific, along with Hawaii and the USA. This month she will be reporting from Laos. Here is her fourth blog entry:

After having spent nearly four weeks in Thailand and a short stint in a hippie village in Pai, I decided that it was time to move on and cross the border into Laos at Thailand's most north-eastern crossing: Chiang Khong - Huay Xai.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, if you are planning on doing a similar thing, I can wholeheartedly recommend to take it slow.

I took the bus from Pai back into Chiang Mai and then further into Chiang Khong.

With all the toilet stops and swap-overs you end up on a minivan for ten hours.

Bring snacks, a book and maybe Valium. We nearly killed a dog and our driver seemed quite tired.

There are tickets available that offer a package, minivan to Chiang Khong, a night's accommodation there, then transfer to the border, as well as the slow boat tickets down to Luang Prabang via Pak Peng, the difference in price is minimal, so you can book that if you want to get everything sorted in one go.

I opted for a slower take on the three-day journey and took the minivan to Chiang Khong, stayed two nights instead of one and got to see a Thai street party, where I was the only Farang (tourist), went to the Friday market at Chiang Khong and also explored parts of the Golden Triangle with a rented car for a few hours, so the extra night was worth it for me.

Usually backpackers and tourists just whisk through Chiang Khong and only stay on the main street with the hostels and bars, before they leave for Laos the next day.

The extra day though will be worth it once you have been introduced to the slow boats.

Crossing the border was painless, you have to sign out in Thailand, then pay 30 baht for a little long boat to transfer you over the Mekong. Then you pay 35 dollars (36 dollars on the weekends) for your 30-day Laos visa and queue up again to get your official stamp and that was the whole visa done and dusted.

Just don't forget to bring a passport picture, though if you do forget you can get one done at the border in Thailand as well.

From customs it is either a ten minute walk to the slow boat piers or you pay for your ticket in one of the many travel agents and a Laos Songtaew (open air truck) will take you there.

There is only one slow boat leaving every day from Huay Xai and believe me: it is packed. Bring a cushion, better still, bring two and more Valium. Slow boats are a thing for tourists. They are not that cheap, but significantly cheaper than the speed boats, which get you to Luang Prabang in six hours, rather than the two days on the slow boats.

Two days on wooden benches, which seem to have been built for humans with no legs and really long backs can get very long. When I saw how packed the boat actually was, I was very close to leaving and getting onto one of the fairly dangerous speed boats. Then again, I thought: it will be fine, somehow.

It was bearable, the wonderful scenic landscapes and villages you pass by more than make up for a lot of the pain you will experience in your back, legs and last but certainly not least: your behind.

If you are unlucky you end up with party people, who will play you their music for two days straight.

If you are lucky: you will get a spot either right at the back of the boat (though it will be loud, cause that's where the engine is) and you can curl up on your backpack to catch 40 winks, or right at the front: and have some leg room. But expect it to get fuller by the hour, as even though they are few, some local villagers use the slow boats to get home. Or to reach the next village, or even to move house.

When stopping at Pak Peng, you will find that at 22.30 on the dot, the electricity will be turned off, as the village runs on generators.

There is one hotel, which has hot water and decent clean rooms, the other guest houses are mostly clean, mine however was rat infested.

By four am the roosters will crow. By 6.30 you will want to get up and leave.
By 8.30 you are back on the slow boat. And this time it is 8 hours.

When you finally arrive in Luang Prabang, you will not believe the happiness and relief running through your body, when finally you are able to walk away from those rock hard benches. My secret belief is still, that the slow boat Managers went and bought the most uncomfortable church benches you can find and then made them taller, to add to the pain.

Also expect the boats to be loaded way over capacity. Our boat had 44 benches, let us say an 85-person capacity, but there were a 130 people on it. Mostly tourists.

Your alternative would be flying or the speed boats. Both will bypass the wonderful landscape. Though you will get you to Luang Prabang in a fraction of the time.

Luang Prabang is the second largest town in Laos, after the capital Vientiane and you will find wonderfully colourful French colonial architecture next to traditional Laos Wat, excellent French baguette sandwiches and wonderful shopping opportunities.

You will also find quite a large number of Western tourists, as the city has been placed on the Unesco world heritage list and is quite popular these days as a destination.

There are three stunning waterfalls, great trekking, mountain biking and kayaking opportunities, beautiful cloth and silks as well as handmade Laos bed spreads and other crafted goods at one of the many markets and its definitely worth hanging around for a few days, to soak it all in before continuing the journey south or west.

Read Anna's last blog entry