I loved this beautiful, unspoilt country. I also think it was great because it surprised me.
It all started with a 3 day 2 night slow boat ride to cross the border from chiang mai to luang prabang.
At the border we met 2 Americans. A boy and girl travelling together as friends, but they didnt know each other all that well so it was an odd situation. They were called dave and Emily, interestingly they both teach english in instanbul. We were dropped at a random guesthouse at the border. It was awful but I was expecting worse. The bed was solid. So with nothing to do we went to the pub and did shots with the locals.
Quick stop at chiang rai to see the white temple. It was something out of a disney movie and really impressive. Worth a visit.
The border crossing was quite sliw but we had paid for a service where a thai man escorts us through. It was actually pretty organised and like arriving in an airport. I was expecting a shack in a field haha. I now am the proud owner of a page visa for lao.
The slow boat was slllloooowww. Great place for scenery. Lao is still 85% jungle and you really feel like you are on an adventure, be it cramped with 70 other people on this boat for 8 hours a day. It ddid get boring after a while. We made a big group of friends all travelling together. All different nationalities. 2 dutch, 2 Americans, 1 korean, 1 israel. 1 guy from germany and 1 from Chile.
In case your wondering. There seemed a srt price from the thai side. It was 1,700 b. This included one night at the border.
