Huey Xai

I was scheduled to leave Chiang Mai at 5:45 this morning. Much to my amazement, the van was there to pick me up at 5:45 sharp. After picking up the other passengers, we headed for Chiang Khong on the border with Laos. We arrived there on time and were escorted into a lovely open air restaurant where we filled out our visa forms for Laos. They took these away to process them and gave us lunch which we ate looking across the Mekong river at Laos. I was very impressed by the smooth and professional way everything was being handled. Can you see where this is going...?

After lunch they announced that the boat that we were supposed to board at 1:00 had left at 11:30 because they had overbooked it and we would have to wait until tomorrow for another boat. There was also some speculation that the very few guesthouses in the town where we were supposed to spend the night were in fact full and couldn't accommodate us. As usual, we don't really know the true story. One way or another, we were not boarding a slow boat today.

We finished with our visa arrangements and then took the ferry across the river to Huay Xie in Laos where we will be spending the night. We will take a slow boat all the way to Luang Prebang tomorrow - a trip of somewhere between 10 and 12 hours. Because we're doing the trip in one day, there will be no stops for food or anything else, so we'll have to try to find something to take with us to eat. They sell water and beer on the boat but nothing else.

I got settled into a hotel here and explored the town. This took about an hour total as there is only one street here so the sight-seeing is pretty limited. I figured I might as well spend some time catching up on e-mail since there's really nothing else to do except drink.

Laos is very inexpensive, laid-back and charming. The people are friendly and don't harrass you to buy things like they do in Thailand. It's easy to find a lower-end guesthouse for $2-3 USD but I've decided to live in the lap of luxury. My hotel is not exactly the Ritz, but has air-con, TV and hot/cold showers in the rooms. It costs about $12 CAD per night , but some of my travelling companions were still trying to haggle for a better deal. It's really rather embarrassing.

I changed a bit of money at the bank. The currency here is the kip and $1 CAD will buy you 8,400 of them. I changed about $150 and got a bundle of money such as only bank robbers see at home. I don't think I'll find an ATM here, but if I do I will be sure to withdraw some money just to get my bank balance in kip. I was a millionaire in Thailand and expect I'd be a billionaire here. Funny how much this amuses me....