North Hotel, Chiang Rai, Day 1

The plan today is a simple one. The first step is getting on the bus we have already booked to the border at midday. We have heard there is a bus to Chiang Rai from there at 9am and 4.30pm every day, so due to the 4 hour ride we feel the 9am is undoable. Hopefully the midday bus bus which we are told takes 3.5 hours will get us there with plenty of time to jump on the Chiang Rai bus and go over the border and to the bus station that is 100m from our hotel. Sounds simple, right?
The first leg of the journey goes well, as we get to the bus station an hour early so as to get good seats. This turns out to be a wise move, as half an hour before the departure time the bus is crammed full. Everywhere a seat could go there is one. The aisle has been filled with fold out chairs and the conductor sits on a camping chair in the doorway. The row in front of us which is only really three seats has five people sat along it. Our bags are fastened to the roof, and ten minutes before midday, we are off.
The air conditioning isn't on but luckily the windows open nice and wide so it's not too bad. The road isn't as bad as most have been in Laos, but it is very hilly, and it some becomes apparent this bus wasn't made to climb hills. As soon as we get to the bottom of an incline we immediately slow down, trudging up it with the speed of a knackered cyclist. It is at these moments that the breeze from the window stops and the sun starts to feel so more hotter. We sweat up along with the van, which would be dripping if it had pores, and slowly tick away the 200 kilometres.
We only have one brief stop, but it soon becomes apparent it is gonna be very tight to catch the bus.
We drive past 2 or 3 car crashes, including two cars both pretty trashed and one car upturned on the side of the road. Thankfully there didn't look to be anyone seriously hurt. It certainly makes us wince a bit more every time a car overtakes us on a blind corner on the side of a mountain (which is much more frequent then you would imagine).
As we get within 10km we are very short on time, and unfortunately this is when everyone decides to get off one by one. It wouldn't be so bad, but the driver has to climb onto the roof and unpack their bags. When we finally get there it is around quarter past 4, and we don't see any buses in the parking area.
A quick look tells us the bus was at 4. We missed it by quarter of an hour. With a hotel already booked in Thailand and not much around here, we start to wonder what to do. Luckily a tuk tuk driver is going to the border, which it turns out is a few miles away from the station, so we hop in with him. The border is pretty empty and we soon check out of Laos and jump onto a shuttle bus which rides us over the bridge and back into Thailand. Border control goes pretty well and soon enough are tickets are stamped with another 30 day visa for nothing. Now all that the is left to do is get to Chiang Rai.
We ask the woman at the desk who tells us we have missed the last bus. Oh dear. This border seems even more deserted then the last one. We are called over again though, and she tells us she can us on the last minibus to Chiang Rai, on the last two seats going. This is great news, but the feeling of joy disappears again when the cash machine isn't working and we don't have enough money to pay. I end up jumping in a tuk tuk heading out and getting out at the nearest cash machine. I get money as the clock ticks towards 5.30, the time the mini bus is scheduled to leave. I make a run for it, which isn't easy in flip flops, and get there just in time to pay. The bus driver is waiting for us and we walk over and unload our bags. It is a boiling hot day, and not a good day to go running, resulting in me being rather sweaty. It doesn't help that I am pushed inbetween a local man and everyone's luggage on the back seat. We share what is around 1 and a half seats worth of space while Amy sits in the front seat with all the space in the world.
The journey to Chiang Rai takes around 90 minutes, and we get dropped off at the wrong bus station for our hotel. We end up grabbing a tuk tuk to take us the five miles to where we need to be, and finally the journey is over. Who said travelling was easy!
Thankfully, the hotel we have booked is lovely. After dropping off our bags we head out for some well needed food. There is a giant food market with dancers and singers performing on a stage and we load up on spring rolls and noodles before heading back to the room and relaxing. What a day!
These days aren't the most fun when you are on them, but they are certainly good when the journey is over. It didn't exactly go to plan (two buses was the plan, instead it was a bus, a tuk tuk, another bus, a mini bus, and another tuk tuk) but it certainly makes it a better story to tell, and all's well that ends well I guess. It worked out about 8 hours of travelling, and we have already booked our bus to Chiang Mai tomorrow (3.5 hours). Hopefully that one will go a bit better then today!Okumaya devam et