After a final day in Luang Prabang we took our leave of that wonderful city. It was a fine few days we had there, really loved the place and will definitely be heading back.

Forgot to mention that out at the Tat Kuang Si waterfall near Luang Prabang they have a few animals that have been rescued from poachers . There is a group of 5 or 6 Moon Bears and a Indo-Chinese Tiger. Plenty of information there about the poaching that has gone on in the area (and still goes on unfortunately). Good to see such a positive, well put together enclosure for these animals, especially here in SE Asia where they aren't particularly well known for their kindness to animals.

We decided to brave the mighty Mekong a final time with a two day 'slow boat' ride up to the Thailand border at Huay Xai (Laos) / Chiang Khong (Thailand). Found a place to buy the tickets right down next to the dock where they come in. We looked around town at the various options and the cheapest seemed to be 190000kip (US$19) each direct at the pier, but opted to go for the VIP option instead and forked over US$22 each at Luang Prabang Travel & Tours (still cheaper than 230000kip that we'd be quoted at most places on the main road). We'd been to see the guy there a couple of times previously, to check prices and so on. He'd told us that they had a VIP boat with comfy chairs that went every other day, and then a normal boat that went every other day with hard bench seats . Of course, on the day we wanted to travel it was the hard bench seats (suprise, suprise). But then the VIP thing kicked in and he ran off and booked us two cushioned chairs. Righto, we thought, but ok.

Turned up the next day at 7.30 as ordered, he looked after our backpacks while we went up to the market to buy breakfast and fruit/baguettes/grilled chicken for lunch. Then he took us down to the boat and lo and behold they dragged out two super comfy chairs for us! All the seats on board were moveable, so they just moved out one of the bench seats and put the comfy chairs there instead. As you can imagine, everyone else on board was looking daggers at us, but hey - them's the breaks :) So, 160km at 20kph + breaks = 9 hours of serene Mekong cruising. Gorgeous countryside floating past, cold beers in the ice box at the back, only moderately overpriced. Ahhhh...

Stopped for the night at Pak Beng, as all boats do and waved a fond fairwell to our comfy chairs . We'd been told that we'd be on the same boat all the way when we bought the tickets, but having been in Asia for a while we figured that wouldn't be the case.

We found a place with a room available, but only a cold water shower (most places there don't have warm water) - Sivongsack Guesthouse for 80,000kip. Pak Beng doesn't have a lot going for it - a dozen restaurants or so with more or less the same menu, a massage place, a dozen guesthouses and a couple of expensive(ish) hotels. Still, it was a comfy bed for the night.

Next day saw us up bright and early with our packed lunch courtesy of the guesthouse's kitchen, and sure enough it was a change of boats and no comfy chairs in sight. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

They did have some of those plastic garden chairs on board though, so we nabbed a couple of those. Way more comfortable than the wooden benches. We'd taken a couple of inflatable cushions with us (forwarned is forearmed), but didn't actually need to use them .

Between Luang Prabang and Pak Beng you go up about 30 metres over the 160km. After leaving Pak Beng you go up 40 metres over about 50km and then about 5m more over the next 70km. All that means that the 120km trip from Pak Beng took about an hour longer than the previous day (greater height = faster river = slower boat). Still, the scenery was great and it was cool looking around trying to guess how it must have looked at the height of the rainy season (you can see 'high water' marks on all the stones lining the river.

Arrived in Huay Xai about 18:30 feeling pretty tired so we took a tuk tuk back into town (only 1km, but only 5000kip each, so well worth it). Staying the night at B.A.P. Guesthouse just round the corner from the ferry over to Thailand. Lovely little guesthouse, very quaint with wooden floors and everything (80,000kip hot water, fan). The owners/managers were great - a couple of old aunts who took great joy in mothering everyone. If we're ever in Huay Xai again, we'd definitely stay there again.

Tomorrow it's off to Thailand and Chiang Mai...