Our only option in getting to Chiang Khong was a local ordinary bus, with no a/c or storage for our luggage. So we stored our backpacks at the back of the bus, opened the windows wide and got settled in for our two and a half hour journey.
The journey was probably one of our best, with very picturesque views of the Thai countryside, filled with sights such as, limestone cliffs, farmland and green rice fields stretching all the way to the horizon.
This all made for a pleasant journey, until after an hour the tarmac gave way to a pot holed and shingle ridden road. The bus ride from here on turned into a bit of a bone shaker, but before we knew it we had arrived at our destination of Chiang Khong.
We took a tuk tuk to our guest house called Baan Tammila, which sits overlooking the mighty Mekhong river and the town of Huay Xai in Laos. After a quick lunch in our guest house we went for a walk to locate the border crossing and find our our visa requirements. Laos deals in three currencies, the US Dollar, the Thai Baht and the Laos Kip. As you can imagine this is very confusing for the independent traveller crossing to Laos. We discovered that we needed 70 US Dollars for both of our visas and that we should use Kip for everything else in Laos. Hopefully this will be fine, but at the moment we still remain very confused!
We thought it would be a good idea to check our the ferry crossing to Laos, so we made our way to the passenger terminal. It was an important point to find the Thai immigration office, as we do need our departure card stamped before we leave. This was confusing to find, but we think we have discovers it.
To say the border crossing is quiet is a huge understatement. The ferry crossing is just a small hadful of longtail boats moored up on sleepy looking sand bank. We're sure all will become clear in the morning, but it does mean for us yet another early morning start and a crossing into Laos over the Mekhong tomorrow.
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