Sabai dee,

After 3 months in Thailand, I've fianlly moved on to another country, and have some brand spanking new stamps in my passport that I'm very proud of. Even though I'm still on the doorstep of Thailand (I can still see it just across the Mekong river), Laos already feels quite different. First of all, I can't get my head around the money situation, there are pretty much 3 currencies used in Laos. The kip is the official currency, but you cannot buy it or sell it outside of the country and it's only really used for little things like buying water and meals from stalls. Then there's Thai baht, which is apprarently used all over the country and is more used for things that are even pricer, such as booking boat trips (as I have done for tomorrow...the 2 day trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang). Then there's US Dollars, which are what everyone wants to get their hands on, so you get the best exchange rate when you change them up at the exchange booths and you can use them to pay for pricer things as well. You can also tell it's not quite as touristy as Thailand, because when you ask how much items are, they always reply in Laos, whereas in Thailand they always told you in English. It isn't too bad because the numbers are very similar to Thai (and I did manage to learn a little, despite the Thai people all speaking English!), but I'm not used to prices (and numbers) in the thousands and hundreds of thousands just for a room for the night! Also, little kids keep staring at me, one boy stood and watched me eat my lunch for a solid 2 minutes. I am putting this down to them not being used to seeing lots of farang women travelling on their own. But I may be mistaken!

Pai was a really great place, there was loads going on but it still felt like a sleepy village and it was hard to avoid the temptation to just laze by the river and do nothing at all. But I did rent out a bike (again, with no gears. I really should have learnt my lesson the last time I did that) and headed out towards one of the waterfalls in the surrounding area. Half way there I abandoned the bike and went the rest on foot. I actually never made it to the waterfall... I know... but I wasn't a complete failure because I made it to the Chinese village. I stopped for some lunch and green tea. The menu was all in Thai and Chinese script, but luckily there were pictures. I also signed myself up for a day course with 'Mamma Yoga'. It was really good, although the second half of the day was done in darkness with no music because there was a power cut and mamma yoga herself was actually a little bit crazy. My evenings in Pai were mostly speant hanging out with the two american girls I met who are teaching in Bangkok but were travelling during the summer holidays. There were quite a few little bars and resturants with people playing live music.

When I got back to Chiang Mai, I couldn't get back into Julie Guesthouse where we stayed before because it was so full. I ended up staying next door in the end, where they had a crazy little puppy that used to chase after the flowers on my flip flops everytime I walked through reception. Whilst I was back in Chiang Mai, I went to a kantoke dinner, where you sit on the floor and share food whilst being entertained by traditional thai dancers. Unfortunately, I assumed that if I booked on my own then I would be placed with other people who were on their own. This was not the case. Instead I had to sit all by myself at the side and was still given the same amount of food as people who were in larger parties. I had to eat loads just to make it look like I'd even tasted a bit of everything (what a chore!). I was glad I went, the performances were really interesting, including some wierd fingernail dance and another one where they were dressed as chickens. After the traditional thai dances we went outside to watch the hilltribe performances, which included some odd looking instruments. I also ended up taking a trip to the zoo in Chiang Mai, and got to see some giant pandas. The zoo itself was slightly disappointing, a lot of things you had to pay extra for and the farang prices were pretty high!

I moved on to Chiang Rai after this, believing that, since it was a lot closer to Laos, the slow boat packages from there would be a lot cheaper than Chiang Mai... I was very wrong! After a couple of nights staying in a really cheap, but really dodgy place (there was wrapping paper on the walls to cover up the tiles!) and not really doing much (except eating lots of food) I decided to head up to the border town on Chiang Khong myself and do the crossing on my own. It was effortlessly simple really, you just got your passport stamped at a little hut to say you were leaving thailand, went down to the river and got a longboat across, and then paid $35 for your visa on arrival. The place I am staying in is not too shabby, the woman who owns it is really friendly, and she's already said she'd throw in a cushion for me for the slow boat for booking it with her. And it worked out cheaper than going from Chiang Mai with a package tour. And I've met a few people already and I'm sure I'll meet a few more on the boat tomorrow. So it's all looking good.

Miss you all

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