After a dockside farewell (knowing full well that Luang Prabang is a relatively small town and we would see everyone again wandering the streets at some point), we had to find our hotel with only a map I had sketched from the Internet. The obvious answer was to flag down a tuk-tuk but the dockside tuk-tuk mafia had all conspired to quote ridiculous prices to the newly arrived fresh meat. The Aussie family of 4 piled into one of vehicles only to be driven about 10...

Time for another boat trip. After the floating prison experience in Papua New Guinea, I didn't think I'd get DH back on a boat in Asia but time heals all wounds (or aging clears the memory a little quicker?), and we arranged for a 2 day trip down the mighty Mekong River to the heart of Laos, Luang Prabang (impossible to say three times fast), using a contact given to us by a couple of Canucks we met in our hotel in Bangkok. "Mighty" may soon be an oversta...

Today was our day to leave Chiang Rai and start heading toward Laos. Our first stop today presented one of those dilemmas we run into every now and again. We really wanted to see the much talked about 'long necks', a Karen tribe of northern Thailand more formally known as Mae Hong Son, but any experience with this group is often likened to visiting a human zoo. This labeling is usually done by overly pompous travelers who fail to recognize that just abou...

Due to a somewhat freakish accident whereby DH threw her shoulder out patting herself on the back after receiving oodles of compliments on her writing style, I've taken the pen back temporarily to document our Chiang Rai stay. We took our first Thai bus to make the journey from Chiang Mai and it outstripped our recent air travel- we even had the bus version of a stewardess feeding us crackers and drinks as we sped along (although after barking out instruction...

With a newfound fan club, DH now has Pulitzer Prize aspirations in the way-too-popular category of 'best travel blogs for family and friends'. Getting the pen back is no longer in question- getting stabbed by the pen if I get too close probably is. DH continues with War and Peace- backpacker style.Today required a quick pack for Chiang Mai leaving two bags (filled with beachy type stuff) behind in storage to be picked up by us end of January as we complet...