We are already getting great vibes from Laos, and we just got here! We decided to just spend the extra money to get a bus that would take us directly from Chiang Rai to our next stop Luang Namtha in Laos. It just makes it easier to have the bus take you through the border crossing than having to do it yourself (which involves taking a bus from Chiang Rai to near the border, then a tuk tuk to the border, another bus between no-mans land in between borders, then a tuk tuk from the immigration crossing Laos to the closest bus station, then another bus from Laos to Luang Namtha). No thank you.
The border crossing was so much more relaxed than our previous ones. It felt like there were only 2 buses of people crossing into Laos on that day. Already, the transition between busy Thailand and Laos had begun.
Unlike between Thailand and Malaysia, where you couldn't really see much of a difference between one side of the border vs the other, you see the difference between Thailand and Laos almost immediately.
The border crossing was so much more relaxed than our previous ones. It felt like there were only 2 buses of people crossing into Laos on that day. Already, the transition between busy Thailand and Laos had begun.
Unlike between Thailand and Malaysia, where you couldn't really see much of a difference between one side of the border vs the other, you see the difference between Thailand and Laos almost immediately.
- Welcome to driving back on the right side of the road!
- Hello, road lined with villages made of wooden huts
- Look, there are lots of naked children bathing and swimming in that river
- Oh my gosh, so much greenery. Tree covered mountains followed by rice-filled plateaus with small little wooden huts on top of them
- Ooh, look a hill tribe person carrying wood on her back
- Ooh, ooh, look, another hill tribe person wearing a turban and tending to the cattle
- This is what we always imagined Southeast Asia to look like
Seriously - it's pretty breath-taking. As soon as we got to the town, we got a good vibe. Some Kiwis living here gave us the low-down on Laos. They are honest; albeit a bit lazy. You can leave your wallet in the middle of the road and nobody will take it. They are very friendly. They are content with life, i.e. they are poor, but happy to just have enough food for today.
We'll see how much we like Laos once we get to interacting with it a bit more, but we are loving what we've seen so far.
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