Well, after our great stay in Chaing Mai we had high hopes for Chiang Rai and unfortunately it wasn't brilliant. We thought there would be some stuff to do, even though Lonely Planet had suggested that it wasn't a great tourist attraction. But we still went there thinking that we might go to the golden triangle (where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet) but we got there and hated it so after walking for over an hour we settled for a hotel to stay in! Oh my god!! There was hardly any guest houses and one that we did look at was soooo dodgy so we had to go for this rank other hotel and we were the only foreigners there!! We did go to the night market which was good, there were performances on stage - Thai dancing and an acoustic guitarist. That was good! But after a short stay we left to cross the border at Chiang Khong into Huay Xai - Laos. The border crossing was really easy! Laos was literally a 2 minute boat ride across the Mekong river and getting our visas were easy enough. So on from there we are heading for rest of Laos.