Chiang Mai, Thailand

I've just survived 3 days without Internet access! Yes, the world is not yet fully on the web.

On Friday, Raoul, Mary, and I went on a day trip to Kuang Si Falls, about an hour outside of Luang Prabang. We picked up another Canadian along the way. The falls looked really beautiful, they're not the biggest or anything, but it was a nice setting. We had a swim in the bottom pool, which was really refreshing. The water was so clear, and it was a nice change from the salty sea water I was swimming in earlier on the trip.

I spent the next two days going upstream on the Mekong, on my way to the border of Thailand. There's two options, a fast boat, and a slow boat. The fast boat does the entire journey in about 8 hours; the slow boat takes two days and stops overnight in Pakbeng.

The slow boat was really nice, the Mekong is actually quite narrow (about 500m?) at points, so it has a really nice atmosphere. I've been on other rivers where you can barely see the other side, and it's just not the same feel.

There were about 30 people on the boat, an equal split of locals and backpackers. Almost all the backpackers were reading; it's a great place to read a book (or two or three). Opposite me was the Dan Brown reading club -- by coincidence, two people were reading The DaVinci Code, and another Digital Fortress. I had my eye on Digital Fortress for trading, and fortunately the girl finished it and traded with me :) It was good, although I liked TDVC better.

Pakbeng is a little riverside town in the middle of nowhere. And it has no Internet access.

I was debating taking the fast boat the next day, but then talked to some other backpackers who had been in accidents in the fast boats (hitting submerged logs or rocks). So decided on the slow boat.

Unfortunately the slow boat got into Huay Xai (the border town on the Lao side) just after the border closed, so we spent the night there.

Huay Xai is a little riverside town in the middle of nowhere. And it has no Internet access.

Met some interesting people on the boat. First there was a Japanese character. He was 63, and spoke just about every language in the region. He flitted about from group to group talking whatever language they were. He was sitting down for dinner with us, and uttered a line I definitely won't hear again sorry, I have to excuse myself, there's a group of Burmese hill tribe people at the next table, and I haven't spoken their dialect in 20 years. Yep.

There was also a group of 3 Texans. I repeat, a group of 3 Texans. I normally try to avoid stereotyping people, but it was very odd to see 3 Texans backpacking around Lao. Good for them.

You may have noticed I've been calling the country Lao. The proper name is Lao PDR, and somehow it got mixed up to Laos (the Lonely Planet blames the French) and that's what the rest of the world calls it now.

The next morning, traveling with Darren (an American who'd been on the slow boat with me), we crossed the border in Thailand, and spent a good part of the day on buses, eventually getting to Mae Sai, a town on the border with Myanmar. It's possible to enter Myanmar for the day without a visa (you just pay $5 USD, and leave your passport at the border). So we plunked down our $5 and spent 3 hours in Myanmar. Bought some souvenirs, a rather heavy (2.5 kg! My entire pack weighs less than 10 kg) gong, and a guitar case (for $4!!).

A five hour bus ride this morning brought me to Chiang Mai, where I'll relax before returning to Bangkok to fly home. I'm hoping to take some cooking classes here.

Some more pics:

On the Mekong. The boat in the foreground is similar to the boat we were on


Man fishing in the Mekong


Night out in Luang Prabang. Check out the cool bamboo straw. Mary's the hand model


Kuang Si Falls