Decisions decisions how to move on next? Both of us were ready for our next journey but what was it to be? The only pressure for us is what else can we do before we fly out of Bangkok on the 13th March. Here in the north of Laos we have two options to get to the Thai / Laos border - the easy option, take a 4 hour minibus taxi straight there or take a slightly indirect rather expensive route involving a two day boat trip via a homestay on the river where no one speaks English and the guidebook becomes less than useful. Guess which one we wanted to do! Not being the wet season the rivers weren't particularly high and as such it meant the first part of the journey was by Songathew, we had been told this was only for an hour. It was actually 4 hours..... the reason being that we didn't actually follow a road as such but a bumpy, dirty track which ran alongside the river twisting and turning at every opportunity whilst bypassing a few mud slides! It was fantastic though to pass through the river villages and see local tribes sitting round fires talking - typical sunday pass time just like home I suppose! On arriving at a slightly larger village, a guy with a mobile phone (presumably the go between!) hopped on board aqnd still we were none the wiser wondering at one point whether we were suddenly be bundled somewhere and never see daylight/home again! Thankfully we turned off and saw ahead the river, realising we had arrived at the boat for the next stage.

Our driver spoke no English we spoke no Laos but with various gestures he told us to get in the boat . So here we are sitting in this boat side by side, looking at; the glue holding it together, large cracks and very hard wood that our bums will have to master for over 15 hours, with two very young guys one at the front one at the back and off we go. The plan as far as we know is to travel to the boatman's village for an overnight stay, then the next day travel downriver the 9 or so hours to the border. Well that was the idea but we had no idea how long the first leg was or where the village would be!!

One of the reasons for taking this option was the scenery; the river journey although taking much longer and being the most expensive choice was to be a real highlight of our travels sofar. The rain as it had been all morning was persistent, nik and I huddled together on this longtail boat taking everything in as we hurtled downriver so low to the water. Our "driver" seemed to know what he was doing and this began to ease the anxiety that we were both feeling as we headed into the unknown . All along the river you see little villages, children playing, men fishing with electronic gizmos that then stun the fish and people staring at these idiots travelling down river in the pouring rain. As for the scenery it was breathtaking, the river wound its way between the mountains and hills stretching off into the distance on either side. One of the most striking things was the amount of deforestation as we had seen on the trek, huge amounts of trees and bushes had been cleared away we expected for more rubber plantations.. After about two hours a settlement loomed in the distance the boat made its way to the bank and our driver got out and said "sleep here" and that was it! We were at a village called Khon Kham.

We arrived at a house, probably the only concete one amongst a village of wooden shacks and a lady invited us in, still no english but pointing to a square empty concrete room with 2 plastic chairs in it. We smiled politely and at this point were both thinking, geez this is going to be a hard nights sleep! Abit later though she started making a bed up for us (thin mattress with duvet but way better than a concrete floor!), we were slightly concerned as it was only 2o'clock in the afternoon .... We soon realised that we were then to be the main attraction for the villagers and as we sat down they slowly started filing in with various handicrafts for us to buy. They were really nice but we had no money and after two hours they seemed to understand that we couldn't buy anything. One gentleman in particular didn't take no for an answer and he was the one who spoke reasonable English but by this stage we were feeling really awkward, everyone just sat starting at us and we had no idea what to do! No matter what we said he kept bringing different objects asking us to buy them and other villagers also kept walking pass the window holes to stop and stare in. It turned out we were in the boatman's house and his wife was preparing a meal for us. I shared a beer with the boatman talking in broken English about the journey the next day and what time we would arrive at the border, this at the time was about all we could afford!

Outside the house there were children everywhere and ladies weaving different coloured cottons on amazing wooden spinning wheels. Not knowing what to do we wandered down to the river, slightly worried about our bags being left - with no guide book you really do start to think more about what you have done and suddenly the unexpected became quite worrying and we started to panick that this was all a bad idea. Anything could happen and noone knew we were here!!! Swifly we headed back to the house, relaxed as our bags were still there and felt rather guilty that we had panicked .....

By now we also had our own groupies, 4 children that had decided we should entertain them. In addition one old guy who kept banging the side of his head asking for medicine, he turned out to be the grandfather of our host!We did find some paracetamol, this seemed to break the ice and there were smiles and laughter all round but then the grandaughter started coughing and asked for help - by now we were becoming the local pharmacy! The kids loved our blank postcards we had bought as reminders of our travels (they were quiet for a few mins) and by now Nikki had slipped back into her previous life as a teacher and was teaching the children "heads shoulders knees and toes" and taking lots of pictures/vidoes which the kids loved. She sat with their school books going through pictures whilst they repeated the english (and any other word she may say ie 'and this is a house',) it sounded abit like martians had come down to earth and were repeating in parrot fashion her every word! They then sang to her, or droned a local school song, all with different words, it was really sweet!

After a meal of spicy bamboo and rice the light began to fade we ended up sitting outside around the fire with many of the locals, still the only communication between us could be sign language . They started teaching us the Laos word for "heads, shoulders knees and toes" and it was cool then to see the adults laughing as they tried to learn the english! For nik it was quite an experience as all the time we were sat round the fire a guy was plucking a tiny bird then throwing it on the fire to singe the remaining down. Nik normally would have run a mile but managed to stay where she was all the time, worried though they would pass it round to eat some! Thankfully they only passed around sweet potatoes to eat, after I had given them my torch to keep, they were so grateful for.With no electricity at all in the village, life becomes very dark at 5pm! Not long after 8pm our hosts were in bed and we were encouraged to do the same, so by oil-lamp we got ready for bed. That night's sleep was not the best the noises of village life were all around and seemed to be accentuated in our room; in addition our host's wife snoring and coughing was something to behold.

Early in the morning we had a wonderful breakfast filling us up ready for our long day downriver . Waving goodbye to the villagers, the journey started - what we thought would be a direct trip to the border turned out to be something of a postal trip for our crew. Along with ourselves on the boat were all sorts of goods, the first stop we left 3 clay pots and picked up 3 spare propeller heads in return. This was a wise move the river was extremely low, the two guys from the journey the day before sat at the front of the boat with poles and oars and every now and then they had to push us along and manoeuvre us around the rocks. We were in good hands though these boys had done this before, we expected from the age of about 5 the way they knew the river and we felt totally safe. As postman pat delivered various goods down the Namtha River Nik and I relaxed and took in the sights and sounds of everyday Laos River village life. The wise move of picking up the spare propellers proved its worth, about 10 minutes after our exchange there was a big crashing noise and we were floating powerless downriver. Down one propeller! After running repairs we were back on our way through the beautiful countryside with eagles flying overhead and animal noises echoing around us . After several more drop-offs again there was a noise down number 2 propeller! This turned out to be a pit stop for the boat and the crew, lunch was served on a sandbank in the middle of the river. The traditional fare of sticky rice was complemented with some of the hottest chillies I have ever had. It was a stunning location reminding nik of New Zealand.

As the day before, there is a constant activity on the river, people making an existence from the nature surrounding them. The novelty of sitting on a longboat for this many hours was beginning to wear off as ones bum began to become very numb. Trying to gauge an idea of how far we had to go was very difficult ,our only measure was to be reaching the Mekong where we then head north to our destination. It reached 3pm and still no Mekong our drivers promise of border 4pm seemed to be way off base. Eventually we reached the checkpoint at the end of the Namtha River and the Mekong loomed to our left and right. Immediately one notices a change in size and colour of this mighty river from crystal clear water to dirty brown . So now we knew roughly where we were and weren't so concerned at being dumped on the side of a river in the middle of nowhere.

After stopping of for gas next to a very wonky looking house boat, we were on our way, hoping against hope that we would reach the border before it closed. All seemed to be going well as we motored past all the other boats that were heading north. Nik and I enjoying the feeling of passing all the other boats trying to make the crossing before 6o'clock but our smug feeling didn't last for very long, it turned out that our crew had a meeting with someone on the Thai side of the river! Without a word to us they started unloading lots of wrapped objects and put them in the back of a waiting truck and disappeared. Nik and I sat there completely amazed that for the 2nd time we appeared to have ended up in the middle of a smuggling ring. Next thing we know we are being quizzed by a Thai Customs official who is looking at us very suspiciously. After some time our crew returned looking very pleased with themselves and off we set. Passing Laos villagers on our right and Thai on our left we desperately hoped we would make the crossing at last the port appeared in the distance, we were going to make it. After tipping our crew we rushed up the slipway to the customs office and they pulled the blind down saying position closed. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry; to try and achieve all that we wanted to do in North Thailand had meant that we really needed to get across that evening and get as near to Chiang Mai as possible. Oh well change of plan! We were prepared for this and had asked people for recommendations of hostels in Huay Xai and we headed for the nearest one. It turned out that such and such hotel was run by two sisters both of whom were lunatics, these two ladies were certifiable. We were shown the room and told to keep up!! Then we ended up having a good veggie curry that evening...

Early the next morning after negotiating the rigmarole that is Laos Customs with passports stamped and fees paid we crossed over into North Thailand, which seemed bizarre to be on a boat for all of 2 minutes but suddenly be in a totally different country! Destination 5!