Brett and Bernii

I am writing this post from a slow boat on the Mekhong River in Laos (while enjoying a nice cold Beerlao) but more about that in next week’s update.

To bring you all up to date with our recent travels, we flew from Bangkok’s Don Muang airport to Chaing Mai in the north of Thailand. We spent two nights at the Mercure Chaing Mai hotel. It is located about ten minutes walk from the old city.

We spent our time exploring the old city and the Night Bazaar before revisiting some bars along Loi Kroh Road (the party district) that we got to know during our last visit in 2016.

After two nights at the Mercure, we moved to the Ibis Styles near the Nimman district of Chiang Mai for two nights. It was a very popular area with the Instagram crowd as the cafes and bars are very photogenic. However, it doesn’t evoke the same character as the Old City, and was a little far away to walk. So we ended up catching tuk tuks to get to our favourite bar on Loi Kroh Road.

After four nights in Chiang Mai, we caught the Green Bus to Chiang Rai. It cost us 400THB each (about AU$18) for VIP seats (more leg room and bigger seats), and the trip took a little over 3 hours.

Chiang Rai is a smaller city than Chiang Mai, and it really comes alive after about 6pm.

We stayed one night at the Hop Inn and two nights at the Hi Chiangrai Hotel. Both hotels were easy walking distance to the Night Bazaar and the nightlife area near the clock tower.

We caught a tuk tuk to Wat Rong Khun (the White Temple). It was impressive but wasn’t as good as the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya.

We spent most afternoons at the rooftop bar overlooking the Clock Tower where we watched the sunset and the thousands of birds that come out at dusk.

We had breakfast at Yellow Truck Coffee which is served out of a yellow truck that parks near the Clock Tower and serves popular northern Thai breakfast dishes, including boiled rice soup, congee and fried dough sticks served with Sang Khaya (Thai coconut custard dip). There was an excellent Pad Thai restaurant called Pad Thai Jet Yod which we only found on the last day.

After three nights in Chiang Rai we caught a local bus to Chiang Khong, a town on the Mekhong River bordering Laos The bus cost 90THB each (about AU$4) and took about 3 hours. It didn’t have any air conditioning, but they kept the door open so it was alright. At Chiang Khong we stayed at the Nam Kong Guesthouse and Resort which was our cheapest accommodation yet and cost just AU$17 for the night.

That brings us to today where we got up early to make our way to the border crossing into Laos and onto this boat. You will have to come back next week (or the week after if we’re lazy) to find out all about it.

If you are looking for travel insurance, especially for longer term travel, we use SafetyWing. It costs us US$102.40 each (about AU$165) for 4 weeks of cover. Note that this is based on our age and we have included the adventure addon. You can use our link to sign up and save US$20 on your first month of cover, and we will get a small bonus (it won’t cost you any extra to use the link). As always, read the PDS to make sure that it is suitable for you.