After a relaxing night in Chaing Rai and heading off t bed feeling totoally relaxed after a massage I got a rude awakening about an hour later.....food poisoning had hit me with a vengence and I've had a night of complete disaster. spend most of the night over the tiolet and hand basin relieving myself of the wonderful chicken curry I had for dinner....wanted to simply die.

Awoke this morning rather frightenend of the thought of a 2 hour bus trip to the Thai/Laos border and how on earth would I make it without a " call of nature" from one end or the other. Sick bag in hand and fingers crossed regarding the other end we set off for Chiang Khong to complete our departure from Thailand.

A quick boat trip across the Mekong saw us arrive in Huay Xai in Laos where we were to get our visa, complete border formalities and head off......sound simple BUT well what a fiasco......the "line up" for the visa was non-existant and consisted of much pushing and shoving to get access to a tiny one foot window in which to submit the appropriate forms, passport, photo and hope for the best. After about an hour I finally got to the window to submit my paperwork...it was then that a "gentlemman" of asian descent decided to punch me in the back of the head to push his way forward....obviously used to submissive women he got a hell of a shock when I turned on him yelling at the top of my voice that physically assaulting fellow travellers was not going to work...got cheers from others waiting in what can only be described as a rugby scrum!! All I can say is that he was very fortunate that I could not turn around fully where his "crown jewels" would have taken a pounding!!

Karma comes around.....the custom man saw what happened and all of a sudden everyone else was getting served except for this man who was made to wait quite a while....might think twice before bashing a westerner in the head again!! BUT this was not the end of the process...we then had to all wait around for our visas to be processed in some sort of random order...we were never quite sure who would get called jp to the window nexct but it didn't match the intake process!! FINALLY after 2 1/2 hours I had my visa!!!!

Then of course we had to do the currency exchange into Kip. Expecting yet another bureaucratic fiasco I was pleasantly surprised to get that achieved in about 15 minutes. We then met our Laos guide - Kamla - who guided us to our transport for the next few days - a slow boat down the Mekong River.

Got onto our boat to find that it was extremely comfortable AND we had it all to ourselves!!! A lovely couple ran the boat with their little son running up and down with his gorgeous smile. We all settled in to admire the magnificent scenery as we left the sleepy town of Huay Xia. As we drifted along we got to see the natural beauty of Laos for which I simply cannot find the words and can only hope my photos will do it justice.

As the rest of our party headed to the dining table I decided it was time for me to listen to my body and try and get some catch-up sleep......head down and I was out for the count for the next 4 hours. Awoke feeling much better as I had obviously cleared my system and was on the road to recovery. Despite missing some of the scenery I still managed to get a feel for this magnificent country and the friendly locals which I am going to thoroughly enjoy getting a glimpse of during the next week.

As the sun was setting over the Mekong we arrived at Pakbeng for our overnight stay. This rustic town-village at the junction of the Mekong River and the smaller Nam Beng (Pakbeng means Mouth of the Beng) lies about halfway between Luang Prabang and Huay Xai (Bokeo Province). Basically a market town and transit point for travel to Udomxai, Huay Xai and Luang Nam Tha, Pakbeng's mostly wooden houses sit along a steep hillside. Close to the ferry and speedboat piers is a collection of makeshift shops and cafes that get more interesting the farther away from the river you go. Hmong and tribal Thais are frequently seen on the main street. A few vendors along the street sell local textiles and handicrafts. Interestingly I have never seen so much western food in a village in Asia as I have in Pakbeng!! Clearly catering to the roaring tourist trade that is starting to invade the area!!!.

Our accommodation had been described as "basic" so we were all pleasantly surprised by our quaint little guesthouse. Clean, comfortable with friendly staff - wehat morfe could we want??? We did have to laugh at the regency stripe curtains and canopy over the windows which would not look out of place in an old English cottage!!


Laos is a sleepy and curiously pleasant landlocked country with inhabitants among the friendliest people on earth. But it wasn't always so. Bordering Thailand across the Mekong River in the west, Myanmar and China in the north, Vietnam to the east, and Cambodia to the south, it is a miracle this former French colony wasn’t carved up as spoils to the ambitions of its powerful neighbours long ago. But it has survived somehow, in spite of having the dubious distinction of being the most bombed country per capita in history during U.S. carpet bombings of the Vietnam War.

Listed by the United Nations as one of the poorest countries in the world, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is helmed by a single socialist party that for all its faults has maintained a relative peace there over the past 25 years. It only opened to tourism in 1989, and the government maintains a constant vigil against "harmful foreign influences".

Bye for now. xxx