Slow boat to Luang Prahbang

To enter Laos, we decided to take the two-day slow boat journey down the Me Kong River. We have since learned that Laos is master of cartels and taking advantage of unknowing tourists. Here is what to know!

If you are taking a bus from Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai, be dropped off at the “Friendship Bridge” stop, which is about 3 km from the actual bridge and immigration. We walked the 3 km in half an hour instead of paying for a tuktuk. It is the principle!

You have to pay a bus to drive you across the bridge. Buy your ticket before going through immigration (25 baht a person).

Have USD to pay for the visa, or else you will pay much more.

PULL OUT KIP AT AN ATM AT THE BORDER!!

When you exit immigration, a tuktuk cartel will force you to buy a ride from them. You really don’t have another choice. Sigh. We tried to fight it and almost missed our boat!

Don’t buy your boat ticket anywhere else but right by the boats on the pier!! People will lie to you and say this doesn’t exist. If you pay in kip, you will save a LOT of money.

Don’t let them cram too many people on a boat. Demand another boat with REAL seats if they try to force you into something else. These people are not very nice… Threaten to call the tourist police and cause a scene if they don’t listen to you!

Bring a TOOOONNN of food for the boatride. You will be starving, and the town you stay the first night in doesn’t provide many options and is once again an expensive cartel.

Barter for a room. The more people you make friends with on the boat the better!

The boat drops you off 8 KM from Luang Prahbang!!!! Seriously. They try to have another cartel by making you pay 20.000 kip per person for a ride into town. Refuse and start walking! We had many new offers by the time we had walked 200 m. We ended up getting picked up for free by a sweet Lao family!

By this time, we had made great friends on the boat: Ellie (UK), George (UK), Laura (Germany), and Philipp (Germany). We have spent the last 3 days with them, and we are all great friends! Yeah!

The end of Thailand

Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai

The cities themselves are not very mountainous, so you have to book a trek or rent a motorbike to explore the surrounding area. These places have the best food, the best street markets, and really fun atmosphere.

an "ancient" temple that we still don't know anything about

Austin being forced to practice yoga with our trek guide. who also tried to sell us opium in the middle of the night, then proceeded to do opium in the room with everyone sleeping. o boy. I put an end to that real quivk.

Austin's favorite: TIGER KINGDOM! These animals are absolutely massive.

 the white temple. Very creepy, Our favorite temple so far!

Back in Time: The longest 1942 train ride ever

We took an overnight train from Bangkok to the north of Thailand, Chiang Mai, a distance of about 400 miles. Don’t worry: it took 14 hours! We stopped every 15 minutes and crawled along at perhaps 12 mph. We had a lovely night’s sleep, then continued riding the train for 7 more hours. Ah! We finished the last season of Lost though!

The train was right out of a WWII movie: slide windows, metal everything, mechanical fan contraptions, porters who make the beds, wooden floors, and of course, squatty toilets (on a bumpy train ride. Yikes!).

The people refused to give us hot water for our noodle cups, so we starved, surviving only on prepackaged cookie biscuits for three meals.

Our quaint bunks!

Treking through the North of Thailand

Despite getting scammed into paying way too much for this trek, we had a lot of fun adventures! We made buddies with a group of Italians, a group of spaniards, a Brizilian, and a Hollander! Most people here don't know any Americans, so it was fun to create their first impression. Here are  few highlights:

While entering the village where we would be staying the night in a bamboo hut, we watched a cow give birth! but seriously! It was pretty amazing. I walked back later (after the cow had "cleaned up" the baby) and saw the sweet thing drink and stand for the first time!

 

We climbed uphill for three hours, two and a half of which consisted of breaks. Apparently smoking is taking its toll on most of the world's population! We seem to be in WAY better physical (not necessarily visual) shape than most anyone. Whether it is due to our Utah-acclimatized lungs, smoke-free lifestyle, genetic prowess, or shear awesomeness, we are greatful! The scenery was lovely but incredibly dry. Honestly, it was just as dry as Utah/Colorado mountains, particulaly in the hills.

A break in a freexing waterfall! Austin and the spaniards got IN the waterfall. 

Our friend Caroline on her baby elephant. I took the picture from the top of our garganutan elephant!

We got to wash the elephants the next morning! The lay and roll around in the water like small children.

Steph got a personal ride into the river! Riding bareback like a boss.

Bangkok: Great Food, Bad Luck

We have not had good luck with Thai people; in fact, our bad interactions outweigh the good by a solid ton. Or two. Thai people we have met have straight up lied to us about things: prices, directions, what’s included, why something happens, open hours, etc. It makes us crazy! Not even an exaggeration, not even a language barrier, but a straight-to-my-face damaging, potentially vacation wrecking lie. Gr.

So warning: when a Thai person who makes money from tourism tells you ANYTHING, double check it. Or do the opposite.

So, Bangkok was not our favorite. 

Crap. The computer crashed, so I didn't get to add all teh photos. boo. next time!

the buses are nuts! Huge, from the 1960's, no English ever, and free! Awesome. Here we are on the way to chay to church