Hello all. We did lots of walking on our second day in Chiang Rai saw a few of the sights in the city including the clock tower and some statues. Later on we went for a swim and had pizza before looking round the night market. On our third day in Chiang Rai we rented some bicycles and biked to the white temple. We took a rather strange route through some villages and on the way saw a cockfight and a few dead snakes. The temple was really pretty but only from the outside. It was beautifully decorated with white and mirrored pieces but the inside had this huge wierd wall painting with matrix characters and a glorified image of 9/11. Early the next morning we caught a bus to Chiang Saen; and then the Golden Triangle. Here we could see Laos and Burma..and there were lots of big statues and gold temples (again). Here we were treated like local celebrities, all these Asian tourists wanted to pose in pictures with us. Odd. We somehow managed to get on a mini-bus going to Chiang Khong but ended up squeezed into the back of a truck with the locals and all their shopping. We then went through immigration and got a boat across to Laos, where we ended up staying for one night until our SLOW boat left the following morning. The boat was a joke. 100 people were crammed onto a boat meant for 60, and were all expected to sit on these uncomfortable wooden benches for 8 hours. Terrible. Did have some plus sides too as we met some cool people and ended up sharing a hostel with them in Pakbeng (the slow boat's halfway point). We all went out for dinner and had Buffalo Curry and far too much Lao Whisky which tasted how our heads felt in the morning (awful). Second leg down the Mekong was much the same. Ed spent it crouched in a ball trying not to think about being sick but I felt ok until later on. We finally arrived in Luang Prabang Laos late in the evening and got a hostel with the guys and girls we met (10 of us in total). More on Laos Later. x .