Even our entry into Laos was very unusual. In the afternoon we flew from Bangkok to Chiang Rai and have to cross the border to Laos via Houay Xai, because the next day, early in the morning, we went by boat, the "Nagi of Mekong, to Luang Prabang. The problem was that the immigration in Houay Xai, closed at 18.00 o’clock and it was still about 1 ˝ hours ride by car to the border. Our flight was late and so it was a little bit trouble to be in time, but we arrived about 17:00 clock at he border.

The boarder is the Mekong. You leave Thailand on the one bank , and enter Laos at the other bank of the Mekong. The Longtail boat needs less then 10 minutes for this crossing and immediately you are really in a different world, it was a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere here.

The next morning started our 10 hour boat ride down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. It was a wonderful trip.

The landscape was very different, great rock formations, big sand bars with cows on its, green cliffs, villages, you can see really the whole life on and around the river, it is like a wonderful film of nature.
 

But our skipper had to be very careful because the water was very different in depths, and there were several of rapids. It’s unbelievable that there are much speed boats in this dangerous water.
 

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