We left our Chiang Mai hotel at 7:30 in the morning, bus tickets to Chiang Khong in hand. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 8:30, though we didn't get on the road until about 10am due to the bus being late and having broken air conditioning (which was never really fixed, just tinkered with and imagined to be repaired). Our bus tickets were for a "VIP" bus, which is supposed to have nicer seats and be a comfier all-around ride. In a business savvy move, the bus company gave everyone the old switcharoo (and eventually a small refund) by putting us all on a much crappier, older bus with broken air, and an uncomfortable triple-seat on one side. These buses can hold more people, so the bus company was able to pack it full and make a few extra bucks. Since the journey is over five hours, this changed the happiness-level of our day considerably.
Speaking of rating systems, the triple seats had a comfort level of negative 13 on a scale of 1 to 10. The back of the seats were separated and curved like horrible, tiny bucket seats, but the actual seating portion was a bench. This was the first time we had ever seen bus seats like this, and we hope it is the last! The bus ride may not have been the worst we've ever taken, but it went briefly from unpleasant to a true pain in the back when we had a third seat-mate for about an hour.
Our bus arrived in Chiang Khong an hour and a half late, but that was no biggie because we really had no plans. And, as thumbs down as the bus ride was, Jeff will always pleasantly recall his conversation in broken English with a mother and daughter. The latter was on break from studying to be a nurse in Bangkok, and the former was an English teacher (which made us curious about her students' English, because hers, while not terrible, was basic at best). Having the opportunity to have a conversation with locals is always priceless.Our day got interesting after we tumbled off the bus in Chiang Khong. You see, the bus drops you off at the bus station, which is some distance from the "port" (we'll use that term really loosely here). We caught a tuk tuk to the "port" where a man in a small room asked us where we were going in Laos and stamped our passports. We then walked down to the edge of the mighty Mekong and bought two tickets for the boat across to Laos from two women sitting at a folding table under an umbrella. They
had two books of tickets, the lower priced tickets presumably for Thai and Laos citizens, and a money box like the one used at high school basketball games and car washes. We had our long tail boat to ourselves. Our driver didn't say anything, but he ferried us swiftly from one country to another. A true professional. He wasn't responsible for the beauty of the setting sun, mountains, or atmospheric clouds, but they really helped make our ride with him memorable. His boat can be best described as rickety. The silent captain, rickety boat, and misty mountains made the scene perfect. For some reason crossing the Mekong the way we did completed some old, deep-set imagery we had in our heads about what SE Asia is supposed to look and feel like. Oddly, we both felt like we were just then going to the rural, makeshift, developing South East Asia we'd been expecting.  |
| The only official building at the Laos side of the Thai/Laos border at Huay Xai |
Two other things, one on each side of the border, helped set the stage for our Laos adventure: A small shop with a homemade sign above the "port" that apparently exchanged money caught our eye as we exited our tuk tuk since we needed some Laos Kip. We were able to haggle for a better exchange rate
(a first for us both) and waived goodbye as the owner slumped back down in his chair, guitar in hand. The other was just the general state and atmosphere of the offices on the Laos side. There is nothing really stopping you from running up the boat ramp and into Laos. We chose to go the legal route and checked in at a small window we guessed to be immigration. Passport scanning equipment? Computers? Forget about it! This is probably what this border crossing looked like 50 years ago, except maybe for the AC unit that turned the office into a refrigerator. There wasn't any customs to speak of, but some guys dressed in t-shirts got our paperwork going for our Laos visas. We paid a uniformed man who also signed and stamped our visas and passports, and were on our way. The whole thing was as laid-back as a border crossing can get. We'd heard Laos took it pretty easy, but we never expected a border crossing quite like the one we encountered!We found a guest house and wondered the town a bit before finally settling down with a mind-calming view of the sun setting over the Mekong. We added some of Laos' favorite cold beverage, Beer Laos, and let the beautiful scenery take center stage. The large brown river and the misty mountains in the background really felt like SE Asia. It's hard to explain, but we felt like we finally made it!
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