The following two days were spent on a longtail boat cruising upstream of the mighty Mekong River to cross back into Thailand. With a seven am start, it was a painful thought knowing we still had ten hours to go. Admittedly the scenery was beautiful, the river widened and narrowed with each meander, and it really is a mighty force to be reckoned with. Limestone karsts rose out of the waters, and the eges of the river were lined with mountainous greenery and sheer cliffs, home to caves within. This was all fine and well, but the intensity of the heat soon took over, and was quite unbearable. There was no real iside space onboard the boart, it was just covered so that our heads wouldn't burn to smitherines. The leather seats, which had clearly been taken from a coach and dumped on this boat weren't by any means the most practical or comfortable.

We all drifted in and out of consciousness throughout the journey, delirium and heat taking over, we would occassionally wake and chat about the heat and the lack of food, as we peeled our skin off of the leather chairs in a bid to find a more comfortable sleeping/sitting position, which seemed impossible.

After wha seemed an eternity, our boat finally moored up, amongst a dozen or so other boats. We were staying in a small town called Pak Beng for the night, but from what the itinerary had described, i had expected a tiny remote village, without anopther tourist in sight. How wrong I was. There were tourists everywhere. Not the rustic adventure I had quite hoped for. But then, this is a major route back into Thailand, so why wouldn't there be plentiful restaurants, hotels and shops? As our boat literally forced its way inbetween two others, we docked and clambered off onto the steep muddy bank, leaving our rucksacks onboard for the evening.

For a place I had imagined very little to be going on, there was actually quite a lot of activity. Apart from the hoards of tourists, there were loads of convinience shops lining the streets, a little boy chopping fruit with a hack saw, and the scent of fresh fish coming from the river and wafting up the street.

We found our hotel, which seemed in all efforts to be nice, but probably was the most basic of standards of late. This was fine, as somehow, although having slept on and off for most of the day, we were still all tired and it was a bed for the night. We enjoyed our last meal in Laos in a small eatery, and tosted the trip, before htiing our beds. The downside of this village, is that they only have electricity from six am until ten am, and six pm until ten pm. This meant a night's sleep without a fan or air conditioning. This was not a good prospect. We had earlier noticed how disgusting the shets were, so even though the heat was unbearable, I decided to sleep in my sleep sheet, and copewith the sweat. I'm getting used to that now anyway. The room was pitch black wthout the lights on, and every sound was pronounced, from cats fighting outside, to sounds I've never heard before and will never be able to distinguish. We decided to sleep with the torch on, just so that there was some light. Bugs were everywhere, and it took an age to get to sleep, I think I tried to stay awake as long as possible, until my eyes couldn't take it anymore.

I awoke to a breath of fresh air at 6 am sharp, as the light came on and the fan whirred round propelling cool air. It was bliss, and we could have now slept for an eternity. Unfortunately, we could only laze around for a while and enjoy the cool air, as we were leaving to get back onboard the boat at seven, and still had breakfast to eat.

All of us half asleep trudged back to the boat for another arduous day of travelling upstream. The previous evening, we had discussed 'fun things to do onboard', in an attempt to make the journey go quicker. We had settled upon a quiz. However, now back on the boat, all energy drained, it seemed too much. Once again, we spent the day snoozing and sweating, but thankfully the journey wasn't quite as long today.

After hours upon hours, the boat finally stopped, and we were hurried off the boat, and stamped our passports out of Laos. Another tiny speedboat took us across the river and now we were back in Thailand. It was crazy. On entry, we were tested for swine flu, by a thermometer been stuck in our ear, and wiped with the same tissue for every use. Very hygenic. Formalities complets, we were here back in Thailand, although rather annoyingly, I now only had fifteen days left to enjoy this country, as my visa had been issued incorrectly at home. Never mind, there would be a way round this.