Back in Thailand!

No internet access for these days... but heres a brief summary of what happened...

6 May

Got up early to try and catch the monks as they went around on their daily food-collection.. apparently you can see 100 monks walking in a line. Unfortunately I was 10 minutes too late. DOH! I did manage to see the morning market though, and I got a few good pics of women holding chickens by their legs while bartering at a table full of chicken heads and feet!

This morning I began the two-day boat trip back to Thailand along the Mekong River. I met a Kiwi, Kirsty, who I ended up chatting to till the sun went down! Lucky enough since the boat only seemed to have couples aboard (hence too busy chatting amongst themselves to talk to some single smelly backpacker!)

Later that night we stopped off at the half-way town of Pak Beng which was a nice spot and had a bamboo room each there for 2 dollars. Pretty damn thin walls though... erk!

7 May

Second day of the boat trip.. more of the same really...

The two-day boat trip was truly a memorable experience through some fantastic scenery and despite the rather uncomfortable seats, its a LOT more fun than the speed-boat alternative (trip takes six hours, but in a dangerous and EXTREMELY noisy craft while sitting scrunched up unable to move)

Finally arrived at the Laos-Thailand border where we literally had 20 minutes to sign the Departure papers in Laos, take a boat across the Mekong to Thailand and sign up the entry papers for Thailand (while also writing up a SARS report too.. *groan*!). Needless to say I must have sweated about 2 gallons in this 20 minute period.

Finally we all went off to Chaing Rai and got a great room each for 2 dollars (with hot shower!)