Today our little troupe went the short distance to the boarder, got ourselves stamped out, hopped on the bus over the Thai-Laos friendship bridge, paid for our visas, which took a lot of stamps and windows, before getting dropped on the edge of the Mekong at Huay Xai. Here we boarded a large long tail boat which held about 100 passengers, almost all tourists sitting on ex-bus seats and prepared for the two-day low boat journey. As forewarned I had snacks and entertainment to hand but mostly I just enjoyed watching the little villages float past. The river was surprisingly shallow in places and we had to avoid many rocks. The natural beaches were a surprise.Read more