7 hour bus trip from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong which is on the Thai side of the border with Laos.

As it was our first road trip in Thailand we thought we would travel in comfort and take the minivan. I suppose it differs from the local buses in that you're not sitting on a sack of rice and under a couple of chickens, a goat and a child. What it does mean, however, is that you're at the complete mercy of the driver who is often running several 'businesses' at once. Van has a
few spare seats? Chuck on a few locals in exchange for a bag of rice which we will pick up in the next town. Not enought space for said rice? Chuck a few of the paying farangs bags on their laps and shove it in the back. Then pick up some fruit on the roadside market in the next village and stop to shoot the breeze with the doting ladies on the stalls who are all vying for a sale...and it would seem some attention from our very handsome driver ;)

Coupled with mysterious ten minute 'cigarette and toilet' stops which may or may not actually be ten minutes (best stay close in case it's actually ten seconds) and a couple of forty minute stops for lunch and second lunch, I can see how a 6 hour journey quickly becomes 8. By the end you feel grateful that the driver went out of his way to
take you from A to B given his very hectic schedule!

Anyway this is our experience of a few minivan trips now and not just the first. This particular one was supposed to include a 30 minute stop over at Wat Rong Khun or the 'White Temple' near Chiang Rai. Instead we spent 20 at our drivers friend's peanut farm where we could conveniently purchase lunch and then we did indeed stop at the White Temple to be told we had strictly 10 minutes, please don't be late ( I believe his mother was expecting a visit on the way and we mustn't keep the old girl waiting...okay that might not be strictly true...).

The White Temple is indeed very very impressive. After a week in the country temple fatigue was slowly but surely setting in so to see something completely modern and contemporary was very welcome. The current building is Colgate white with lots of shiny mirrors and a bridge to the entrance which takes you over the artist's impression of Hades ...lots of creepy hands and faces in agony...very cool. Then inside the temple, the murals on the wall apparently depicting our struggle with temptation include such modern faces as the Predator, Avitar, Neo from the Matrix, a mobile phone and Michael Jackson which made me giggle. Not quite your usual Buddhist paintings...very shocking.

Didn't quite have a great deal of time to appreciate it all given our driver's warning so snapped a few photos and hurried back to the van to find we were the only ones there. Hungry and a bit unsure as to where we might be taken in the next few hours we decided on a passenger coup (much easier when there are two of you). Bill would wait for a couple of 'quick' sandwiches to be made. Lis would stand in front of the van and make sure it didn't leave. Plan was a goodun...fed and watered we got to Chiang Khong and got out first glimpse of the Mighty Mekong!

We opted for the two day slow boat down the Mekong to Louang Prabang after much deliberation and the horror stories concerning sitting on a wooden plank for two days crammed in with 100 other people and no loo. It seemed preferable to the speed boat which according to several sources resulted in 'frequent fatalities' after hitting hidden rocks...Christ what kind of a rouge country are we going to?

We had a whole night to contemplate our respective fates with Matt the American bloke brave enough to take the speed boat and Yotam and Noam our newfound Israeli friends who would 'suffer' the slow boat with us. Much trepidation but at least we were 'out of the comfort zone'.