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Early start today, get packed up, haircut and some food inside us ready for our bus to Chiang Khong. We checked out our hotel around 10:30 to give us good time to get things done. We decided to walk to the hairdressers as it was only about 5 minutes away, this was quite fun with our backpacks trying to cross a few main roads.
When we got to the hairdressers, we unloaded our backpacks and were told there would be a 20 minute wait. So Kara decided to go off to get some cash out, I waited around and just chilled. There was a lady boy hairdresser, or maybe he was just a cross dresser. He was wearing a dress, had girls sandals on, hair done like a girl but minimal makeup. Was strange??
Kara returned looking quite confused, the card hadn't let her withdraw any money. We have had problems before with several cash machines as they only accept local cards. So I quickly shot off to try and resolve this problem. I found the cash machine Kara had used, it said would accept Visa but didn't mention anything about foreign cards. So I went off a little further down and managed to find one that accepted foreign cards. Few! Was abit of a nightmare as it was half english/half thai on the screen. Got there in the end though.
Once I got back to the hairdressers they were ready for me, I was instantly taken off to have my hair washed. After a quick shampoo and condition I was ready for my second haircut in Thailand. It took a while to get them to understand what I wanted but we got there in the end. I was expecting him to use a trimmer with grades 1,2 etc but instead he used his comb to grade it. This took ages!! The final cut was good but my god didn't it take long. An after he had cut it I had to have it washed again lol. My hair has never been so silky smooth. Quickly back in the chair ready to be styled, although he had to dry my vest as the second time I got drenched! lol
We paid out 200 baht (£4) and off we went, Kara had spotted a little coffee shop around the corner when she went to get cash so we had decided to eat here. It was a cool little place, we both ordered Oreo milkshakes, Bacon and Egg sandwich and Egg and Ham toasty. The food took ages to come out, but they kept us with a constant supply of fresh cold water so it wasn't too bad chilling. After we had finished up we got a little tuk tuk to drop us to the bus station. It wasn't very far but we didn't have long to catch the next bus and get good seats.
When we arrived at the bus station we were greeted by a load of local little buses, the umcomfy, hot cramped type. It was stupidly cheap at only 60 baht each (£1.20) plus we managed to get some seats right by a fan. We grabbed some cold drinks before we left so we were ready to go. The journey wasn't too bad at all, we just sat back and chilled, enjoying the scenery. It made several stops to drop people off and pick them up along the way. Within 2 1/2 hours we had arrived in Chiang Khong :-) happy days!
After nearly being in Thailand a month, it was about time we grabbed a Thai sim. This was first on the agenda, so as soon as we got off the bus we headed for the True mobile stand. 50 baht (£1) for the sim card and 50 baht for a top up. Awesome :-) so if you get any texts from a dodgy Thai number its us.
We jumped in a little tuk tuk which cost us 40 baht (80p) to get us to our guesthouse. It wasn't too far away but we didn't fancy the trek after being on the bus for over two hours. We had soon arrived and were checked straight into our room for the night, it was in a great location, was cheap, 500 baht (£10) and the room had everything we needed. After we had settled in and trip advised where was good to eat, we decided to go out and have a look around. It was like a ghost town, due to the new Friendship bridge they have built for immigration I think people just pass through instead of staying over. So many places had closed down or shut really early.
First on our agenda was to exchange some baht for dollars, we needed dollars for our Visa for Laos. We found a quiet little shop and managed to get a good rate. It was quite handy actually as we managed to find out immigration charge $1 extra on weekends due to an overtime rate. Cheek of it! lol next was to book our Bus to take us from the Border to Luang Prabang. The options were a two day slow boat with a stop over or a 12 hour VIP bus journey. Not fancying spending two days on a boat we opted for the bus. Would we be regret this decision?? The bus cost us 1100 baht each (£22) this was the same price as the boat without the cost of the accommodation for the night. It included transfer to the border and help with immigration, our transfer across the bridge and then onto the bus station in Laos. Pretty good deal we thought.
After trip advising earlier, we spotted the Bamboo Mexican which is number 1 rated. Bare in mind there are only about 11 places listed on there! It was a small little place with a crazy little owner, he was pretty cool and gave us a good laugh. James went for a Steak burrito and I had a chicken Enchilada. The food took a while to come out but it gave us time to chill, sit back and enjoy a few beers. When the food did come out it was definitely worth the wait, it was unreal. Some of the best food we have had yet and the service was great. James had spotted some brownies behind the counter so we took on some of these and ice cream before we left. The owner brought us out some fresh bread to try whilst we were waiting, it was lush! So we decided that some sandwiches for our 12 hour journey were most definitely needed.
After food we headed back to the room, once we had got back Kara decided she fancied some chocolate. It was only next door so I didn't mind shooting round to pick up a few things. I asked for some money and she gave me 100 baht (£2) I kicked off and had to remind he that this was only two pound and that I was not a child lol. I snatched 200 baht and shot off to get some goodies. The chocolate supply is limited in Thailand, mainly only selling Hershys, Snickers and Kit-Kats, you get the odd Mars and some Dairy Milk. I grabbed two of each and a lush cold Mountain Dew :-)
I came back with change too! Winner :-) Kara soon got to work on the chocolate until we got to the Mars, this was unlike any Mars we had ever had before. It looked the same just tasted weird! This soon ended up in the bin. After our snacks it was time to get some sleep for our long day/night ahead of us. Wood 12 hour bus journey, exciting times ahead. But we shall soon be in Laos.
J&K over and out!
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