Huay Xai, Laos

I made it to Huay Xai through the Thai border. I stopped for two nights at Chiang Rai first, where I did not much other than the Saturday night walking street, and Laundry. To cross over to Laos, I first had to get to the right bus station. There are two bus stations in Chiang Rai, one (#1) is pretty much in the middle of town, and it's where the minivans will drop you off if you come from Chiang Mai or Pai. The direct bus from Chiang Rai to Huay Xai leaves from bus station #2. There is a local bus which departs from station #1, and goes to Chiang Khong. There you can catch a tuk tuk to the Thai border, do immigration, catch another bus that takes you across the "friendship bridge", and then, once you go through Lao immigration, another bus or tuk tuk will take you to the Bokeo bus station. I didn't do that. Instead, I caught a public taxi in thr form of an open truck, with wooden benches, for a few bahts, from station #1 to station #2. There, I took the local bus that takes you all the way from the bus station in Chiang Rai to the Bokeo bus station in Laos. They wait for you at every border crossing, and it was very cheap. At the border everything is quite intuitive as far as what to do and where to go. You just need to have your dollars ready to go. We paid an extra 1usd "overtime" fee because we crossed on a weekend day.
Once at the bus station in Bokeo, which irrespectively of how you cross will be your final destination, you need to catch a tuk tuk to town. We negotiated 12000 kip each for a group of 6 people.
Huay Xai is everything you would imagine for a border town. There are decent guesthouses and restaurants, but not much else. The views of the Mekong are quite impressive, with a number of colorful boats parked at the pier, and a pretty nice sunset. Many of the guesthouses and restaurants feature views that you would have to pay a lot for anywhere else in the world.
Before taking the slow boat to Luang Prabang, we (and by we I mean my newly found friend at the border, french Aurelie) did the amazing express gibbon experience.
We arrived the day before getting onto the slowboat, got our ticket from the pier before closing time (4pm) and secured a guest house meters away from the pier. The next day, we walked back in town for breakfast. We had found a place selling quite good omelettes with French baguettes and good coffee almost across the street from the Gibbon experience office. We didn't know yet that almost everywhere is Laos, contrary to Thailand, people know their bread and eggs.
We then headed, way too early in the morning (around 9), in the boat. We had to wait about 2 and half hours before we started moving, but granted, we got the best seats in the house. While we waited, we took turns getting a sandwich for lunch and snacks from the street stalls along the street that goes to the pier. The slow boat ride was definitely one of the highlights of my time in Laos.Read more