Don't Pay the Ferryman 'Till You Get to the Otherside

After arriving in Chaing Mai where we were booked into a charming guest house with a lovely terrace and garden, the afternoon was spent bicycling in the countryside. That was followed with an evening tour, up the mountain to visit the local renowned temple where the Buddhist Monks were chanting evening prayers. It was an extremely mesmerising experience.

The following day we left for a five hour van ride to the Laos border, where we were to cross the Mekong River by ferry the following day. My first view of the Mekong brought across a strange and mysterious feeling as I stood on the Thai side, gazing across at a communist country, wondering what adventure lay before us.

The next morning, after getting a ride in a tuck tuck to the Thai customs and immigration office,  we boarded the 8 passenger ferry boat to hitch up with our 15 passenger boat which would ferry us down the Mekong for the next two days, This boat has all the charm only one can experience personally. It is owned and operated by a father, mother and their 15 year old son. The mystery and mystique are around every corner as we navigate the Mekong. It is the 10^th longest river in the world which starts in the Himalayas and empties into the China Sea after having flowed through six countries. I can’t get enough of this stuff!!

My biological clock has finally started to kick in after a week and I got my first of two, good night’s sleep. Thank God!! Others in the group are still having difficulty with jet lag.