We have packed the lightest we have been in awhile and have only between us one backpack, one day pack and a waist pack which can be expanded to another day pack, plus the canon camera. The packing list is similar to the Camino List but we have an iPad, smaller camera, blackberry, Thai cell phone,iPod and all the accompanying chargers. Our tickets for the air conditioned minivan cost $24 for the 2 of us. We had booked these tickets 4 days in advance and had tried to reserve the front seats. Our pick up time at the Galae Thong was to be 9:30am. No bus had arrived by 9:45am so we called the travel agent and they called back to say the bus was running late. They could assure us of the front seats by picking us up first so we opted for that. We were picked up a little after 10am and then spent the next hour driving around in various areas of the old city that we were not familiar with picking up fellow passengers at various guest houses. They were back packers and we were definitely the older flash packer with lighter loads, dressed more conservatively and older in age by at least 30 years. Interesting to just sit quietly in the bus and listen in on the dialogue...everyone gets taken for a ride by the Bangkok Tuk-Tuk drivers and it is funny to hear the tales as long as you are not the one having the experience. We already had that experience in 2010.
The road is curvy so I had applied the little white eucalyptus patch that is a herbal remedy the Thais use for motion sickness and migraines. For motion sickness you cover your belly button. It seems to work for me so i now carry it with me for the windy roads. We stopped for a 30 minute lunch break and there was a choice of Phad Thai or fried rice. We made a 20 minute stop at the White Temple near Chiang Rai. We had seen the temple a few weeks ago with our friends the Gilligan's when we had done a hill tribe tour.
We finally arrived in Chang Kong after 4pm and unloaded the passengers that were overnighting on the Thai side of the river and crossing the Mekong in the morning to catch the boats or to travel onwards. By 4:30 we were flying across the river in a long tail boat which was much quicker than the very slow visa processing at the Laos border. A thunder storm ensued while we were waiting and we had to look for accommodations in the pouring rain but we did have umbrellas. We were able to get the room and the hotel we wanted - the best in town with AC, hot water showers, and WiFi in the lobby. We chose the room above the lobby so we actually have WiFi in the room.....including breakfast the price is $24. We walked through the small village and tried to book the tour to see the Hill tribes in the area tomorrow but were not successful. We will get up early tomorrow to try and get that arranged. We are wondering if there're is a disconnect between the guide book Lonely Planet Laos 6th edition and reality. After a nice dinner at the Riverside Restaurant we went again walking through the town to enquiry after the tour company written up in the guide book. Seems there has been a name change and the lady there did not know anything about the local tours written up so she advised us to come back tomorrow morning at 8am when they open. We will try and be there then as the slow boats for Luang Prabang leave at 11am and if we can not get a guide to take us to some of the Hill Tribe villages we might as well start down the river. The rain started up again and has really dropped the temperature and hopefully will be clearing all the smoke in the air!
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