The adventure of crossing the border into Laos

Before leaving on our trip, I had read many blogs which explained the process of getting to the border and that it was chaotic. Our experience was far from that. I’m sure that if you leave very early in the morning to catch the 11:00 boat leaving from Huay Xai it might be more hectic but for us, we had planned to stay 2 nights and take our times so we left a bit later.

We started off leaving Chiang Rai on this rickety bus which was super uncomfortable for a 2-hour ride. BTW – I haven’t mentioned this in any blog, but every bus has 2 people, the driver of course, and an attendant. The attendant’s job on long trips is to serve you a snack and water and help with the many stops along the way, and loading local goods. On shorter trips, they are there to collect the money. They come to you and collect once the bus is in motion. I wondered how they keep track of the people that come on and off especially in the city buses like in Bangkok where the process is the same. No monthly passes or fare boxes.

The bus dropped us off on the highway where a few Tuk Tuks were waiting and one drove us about 3 KM to the Thailand border for us to exit. The process was very simple and relatively cheap. On the other side of the building, a huge bus was waiting to take us over the Friendship bridge crossing the Mekong River to Laos. 

The process of getting our Visa and paying our fee was quite painless although there not many people. It took us longer to fill out the forms then go through the customs officer. Then off we went into a small truck-like Tuk Tuk to be driven to our hotel. Before the bridge was built, it was one ferry ride but now it’s broken into segments, each costing a few dollars. Not too bad. Everyone has to make a living and tourism is probably one of the main sources of income in the area. SE Asia has more than its share of poverty.

 Once we arrived, the beauty of the Mekong River and seeing all the boats docked took my breath away. Unfortunately, Ed was sick all the way with a very high fever. All he wanted to do was lie down and sleep. I decided to take advantage of enjoying the view of the river from the guesthouse. I had my beer and lunch every day reading and just enjoying the R&R while Ed was nurturing his high fever. Poor guy, he was sleeping 18 hours a day and forcing himself to eat at least once. Getting sick can be scary, not knowing if turning back to a hospital in Chiang Rai is best or carrying on. Ed’s motto is “never go backwards” so on we went in spite of his fever going past 40C at times.

It was quite entertaining at the guesthouse as the whole extended family was involved. Some looked after the front desk, some cooked and waited tables, some babysat, some did maid service, etc. The people were not that friendly-maybe because they spoke almost no English- so I don’t know if it was only at the guesthouse or all of the Laos people. We will soon find out when we take the slow boat down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang and spend some time in Laos.

Tomorrow we start our 2-day slow boat journey to Luang Prabang.

~Travel like nobody's watching~