A less eventful day today, but I'm in a new country!

Parn's parents Paitoon and Tawee picked us up at 8am and took us to Chiang Mai bus station, where they helped us buy a ticket to Chiang Rai, which was 169 baht (£3.40). We said goodbye to them and thanked them for their hospitality, but we still had about an hour an a half to wait so we bought some snacks for the journey and wrote in our journals to pass the time.

We saw a coach arrive in our bay for
Chiang Rai, so we went to put our bags in the hold, but then some German guy wearing a linen suit and a pink shirt and sunglasses in the shade (you get the idea) said 'oh no no this bus isn't yours' because it was a VIP (1st class) bus and he clearly thought we didn't look the part!

It turns out he was right, but that's beside the point, he openly judged us because we had backpacks instead of golf clubs and fancy luggage. Fifteen minutes later we got on our normal class coach and set off. Buses in Thailand have a hostess who serves snacks and drinks, so we got some free water, biscuits and a wipe at the end. During the three hour journey two flat screens folded down from the ceiling and they played the film 'Piranha' badly dubbed in Thai. Kelly Brook was in it, along with a lot of nudity and loads and loads of gore - it seemed a strange choice for a daytime public bus journey! The roads were all windy and the scenery was beautiful, but the coach was really bumpy.

We got off at Chiang Rai and asked about buses to Chiang Khong, but were told we would need bus station 1 and not bus station 2 where we were - luckily we realised our coach was actually stopping there next so we piled back on and got off 10km later. It turned out when we got there that the next bus to Chiang Khong was in five minutes, and cost 65 baht (£1.30). The bus was worlds apart from the previous coach! It was noisy, old and rickety, with wires all over the ceiling to power various bits of equipment in the bus (like the fan). The seats were about two thirds of the width of a normal bus seat, and the only seat left for me was next to the only fat Thai person in the world, wearing a bomber jacket and carrying a three year old, so I had space for one bumcheek for a two and a half hour journey. Luckily five minutes later the lady at the front got off and I moved there. The driver had bare feet, the door was wide open for the entire journey and the speedometer was stuck on zero. You could even see the road moving underneath through a hole under the gearstick! There were a pile of parcels in the front, and every now and then we would stop and the bus conductor would just leave them on the side of the road - maybe that is how Thai post works!?

The scenery was amazing though. At one point we saw that the road was being resurfaced (which it certainly needed), but instead of putting out
cones and closing a lane, the bus driver just sort of had to guess when he shouldn't drive any further and then cross the central reservation (big pile of dirt) and drive on the other side of the road for a bit! Not a roadworks sign in sight, just some steamrollers. It was certainly an experience!

We made it to Chiang Khong where I changed some baht for dollars for the border crossing, and then we got a Tuk for 30 baht each (60p) down to the Mekong River where the border is. On the Tuk Tuk my hat blew off and I screamed but managed to grab it, at the same time grabbing Vicky's face through my hat, she thought something had happened because I had screamed and was panicking so I panicked. It was really funny because I had only screamed about my hat! (maybe you had to be there, it doesn't look as funny written down).

At the border we stamped out of Thailand and got an old rickety longtail boat for 40 baht (80p) across the river to Huay Xai in Laos, where we had to pay $36 for a visa. Once we'd got our visas we booked our bus (VIP this time!) to Luang Prabang tomorrow for 189,000 kip (£18 maybe?) for a 13 hour journey, and then went to find somewhere to stay. We are in a place called the Friendship Guesthouse and are paying 100,000 kip (£8) between us for a room with a private bathroom. We saw the sunset over the Mekong from the roof terrace, it was really pretty.

We got changed into our new night market purchases from yesterday, and went to eat at a restaurant across the road, which has a huge terrace overlooking the river, even though it was a bit more expensive than some others around. We got a meal and drink for 18,000 kip each (£1.50) though!

We were going to get some duty free beers and sit on the roof terrace, but we are all so tired that we are back in our room just chilling out. There's no wifi in this town so I feel a bit cut off! You will prob get a few entries at once again when I next have wifi.

Our first lie in for ages tomorrow, and then a lazy day sitting in coffee shops whilst we wait for the bus at 4pm. I'm looking forward to a day which isn't go
go go!

Night night! xxx