Into Laos… and beyond

Today we are headed to Chiang Khong, Thailand from an overnight stay in Chiang Rai and six previous days in Chiang Mai. Although congested with tourists and traffic Chiang Mai was intriguing, especially seen both inside and outside the city moat from a motorcycle. We are sorry to cut our stay in Chiang Rai so short as the easy going night market here captivated us yesterday evening and the coolness in the air (we have climbed, via bus in low gear) into Thailand’s mountains to be here) is a wonderful respite from Thailand’s heat.

Chiang Khong (lots of Chiangs and Maes up here in the north) is across the Mekong from Huayxai (pronounced “way sigh”), Laos, where we plan to cross into Laos later today. We are looking forward to being in a new country, where we can cruise along the Mekong, try out a new language, although the Laotian language is similar to Thai, and then push on into Cambodia and Vietnam. We think we will be headed back to Bangkok, on a flight from Hanoi, Vietnam, sometime in late April.

We have heard Internet access, along with eletricity, could be intermittment in Laos and Cambodia, particularly along our journey into the southern portion of Laos, on our way to the Cambodian border. We will do our best to post photos, updates and reply to emails, but if you don’t hear from us too often, rest assured we are thinking of you and feeling wonderous for taking this time to seize the day in south east Asia.