Had arranged the slow boat trip through email with a guy from Chiang Khong, he showed up with a van, drove us to the ferry and got us organized for Lao immigration. Lots of confusion getting from Thailand to the boat in Lao but it went smoothly and a couple hours later we were on our slow boat. Amazing scenery along the river, our boat wasn't crowded, we got food, drinks and stopped at two remote hill tribe villages along the way (One Hmong and one Mien). We had...

We drove north through lots of interesting country. Went to some caves, supposed to be the largest in Thailand, they go back 10 km into the highest mountain in Thailand. Very impressive, we had a guide with a lantern so we ended up crawling through tiny openings into huge caverns filled with stalactites. The opening to the caves was a Buddhist temple and inside they had a bunch of shrines also. Temples everywhere!! We couldn't find a place to stay the first nigh...

We had a great drive up to Pai then got a bit lost trying to find the farm we were staying at. Out on some back roads and around one corner we came face to face with a huge elephant. We stopped and the other 'driver' walked the elephant up to our car and it put its trunk in our window. Very cool!! Staying in a bamboo hut with two sleeping rooms and one bathroom, very cosy!! Beautiful setting on a pond in the middle of rice paddys. Drove into Pai and checked ou...

Got settled into a great guesthouse in Chiang Mai and met up with Rick Daniels who lives a few blocks from where we're staying. Did some touring, hiking, zoo, aquarium and markets. But the best so far was a full day Thai cooking class at a small family farm in the countryside, we had a fantastic day, learned a lot about cooking and ate great. Wandered around various markets and took tuk tuk to some further out places. Rented a car in Chiang Mai to drive north...

Made it to Bangkok, landed at night so couldn't see the flooding. Everyone here is bowing and very polite and it's hot. Only a short sleepover in Bangkok then we met George and Janis at the airport and onto a flight to Chiang Mai.