Farewell to the land of smiles…

 Current Location: Chiang Khong, Thailand

So today is the day I cross the border to Laos!  Hooray!  I am super excited about this as I’ve never been to Laos before and I haven’t heard one traveler say a bad thing about the place.  Besides that, I think that land border crossing are always a bit exciting for us ‘island’ dwellers.  Unlike our European friends we can’t just trip on over whenever we please so there is definitely an element of novelty to it.

Obviously I did manage to leave Pai – the very next day in fact.  Maybe if my bed had have been just a little softer I would have stayed but they just don’t do soft beds in Thailand, or in any other Asian place I’ve been truth be told.  It seems to be either the equivalent of a concrete slab or a wooden plank but you kind of get used to it…kind of.  Sarah and I were both wanting to head to Chiang Rai so decided to travel together and get off the beaten path just a little.  This involved a bit of a convoluted changing of buses in what felt like the middle of nowhere and although we’d both come across a blog where it all turned into a bit of a nightmare (they missed their bus and were a little stranged) our trip went fine. We ended up in a little place called Tha Ton which is indeed little but has a lovely view of the mountains leading into Myanmar (Burma).  We took a longtail boat from there to Chiang Rai which seemed a little dubious at first.  As it’s the end of dry season the river has bugger all water and a guy we met the day before told us that coming the opposite direction he’d had to get out and push the boat a couple of times as it had grounded on a few occasions!  So when we turned up at the dock and saw about 15 people set to go on this boat we thought oh my god, what have we done.  In the end they took two boats and again we had no problem.  It was actually a really pleasant way to travel – cool breeze, excellent scenery etc.

As it turns out I didn’t really like Chiang Rai all that much and I wasn’t overly fond of the guest house either so as luck would have it I of course got sick there.   Not food poisioning sick but some weird illness that rendered me very dizzy and unable to eat.  Initially my face went quite numb as well and I got super freaked out.  At least I wasn’t having to run off to the loo every 5 mins but this was almost worse as I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong with me so of course my imagination started running wild – malaria (as I’d decided not to take the tables of course) or mabye some mystery disease from the myriad of shit rivers I’ve had splash in my face from time to time – you get the picture.  I decided to shift to Chiang Khong, the border town, and spend a night there trying to recover before crossing the border as basically I just wanted to get out of Chiang Rai.  Sometimes you associate an illness with a place so I figured the move would help.  Things got worse before they got better but I am feeling much better now and ready for a new adventure.  I must say a big thank you to the kind people at Bamboo River Guest House who looked after me and made me rice and chicken soup after I almost fainted in their restaurant area.  I think I was just so relieved to get there that I relaxed for one moment and then bam, my mystery illness took over again.  Chang Khong

Before I end my Thailand adventures for now I just want to say a special thank you to a couple of people who have added that special touch to my Thailand trip so far…

Firstly, THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS to the happy couple Sam & Phil who got married in the south of Thailand the day before I flew in and who also made my night out in Bangkok so much fun.  They were so generous by paying for my dinner and drinks as they know I’m on the road for so long and wanted me to just have a good night and I appreciate it so much.  Sam and I met just over 8 years ago when were were both traveling in the states and it had been 5 years since I’d seen her and Phil so that was a super exciting outing for me.

Another thank you goes out to my new Swiss friend Maetti (I’ve never met such a happy person – always laughing – it’s great!) who was such great company in Pai and also treated Sarah and I to a meal and drinks on our last night there.  Your generosity is much appreciated!  Stay in touch!  Also, thanks to my Dutch friend Ronnie, who gave me a water proof cover for my backpack within an hour of even meeting him as he no longer needed it for his travels.  Thank you so much for the great company and generosity!  I hope you enjoy the last few days of your trip.  Finally, to Julie at Lanna House in Chiang Mai for making my stay there so much fun and also for the silver necklace she gave me for helping you with her computer (which I was not that successful at in the end anyway)!

The generosity of people when you are traveling just astounds me - someone is always willing to share something they have with someone else that needs it.  It’s nice to know that people like this still exist in the world – and so many of them too!

Well that’s it for now – not too exciting a post today.  With the traveling and being sick I haven’t had a lot of time for too much else to happen.  I will be back to you again in a week, this time from Laos and hopefully with a funny story or two!