CHIANG KHONG, THAILAND

Traveling to Laos has proven to be a little tricky. Rather than flying directly to Vientiane from Bangkok (the most direct route) we realized it would be much cheaper to fly to Chiang Rai, Thailand (again) and enter Laos from the north. Our original plan was to take a bus from there to Luang Namtha, in the northwest corner of Laos, where Chris was keen on doing some trekking/rafting/kayaking in the Nam Ha National Protected Area. We would then work our way south to Luang Prabang and finally, Vientiane.

But after arriving in Chiang Rai yesterday and consulting with our old friend Tom (who runs the Mae Hong Son guesthouse), we were advised against that plan. Apparently the road from Chiang Rai to Luang Namtha is pretty bad, and drivers charge a lot of money to get there. So instead we've chosen to take a bus to Chiang Khong, a couple of hours from Chiang Rai, and catch a two-day "slow boat" east along the Mekong river to Luang Prabang. Which is fine with me--we can do trekking from there, and will have more time to relax, rather than spending several days on the road to and from Luang Namtha.

People met today:

• Andrea from Munich, Germany, who's at the beginning of a three-month Asian tour. We met her on the bus to Chiang Khong and found out that she's taking the slow boat to Luang Prabang, too. She decided to stay at our guesthouse, and later joined us for a stroll around town (there was nothing to see!).