Back in Thailand

After a few more days bumming in Luang Prabang I hopped on the slow boat headed for the Thai border. The trip, which took 20 hours over two days was, well, long. And the wooden benches that we were forced to sit on were not exactly comfortable. However, the scenery was just beautiful - emerald mountains, remote fishing villages, limestone cliffs - and the journery was made more enjoyable by three really cool people that were on the same boat - Lucas, a surfer from Cactus Beach in South Oz (one of the very rare species of surfer that is actually interested in travelling to lands not blessed with surf) who has been travelling through Indo over the past couple of months, and Kieran, an Irish electrician, and his Spanish girlfriend who are eight months into a year-long round-the-world adventure. The four of us have been sharing rooms at the various guesthouses we've stayed at, making travelling very, very cheap!!

We are now in Chaing Mai, Thailand, which seems worlds apart from Laos. Returning to Thailand was like stepping out of the jungle back into civilisation. I immediately wanted to go back, where there's no smog, no traffic problems, no stress! At least Chiang Mai is meant to be a groovy kind of place with more bookstores than shopping plazas... but still, it's not Laos...