after 1 day and a half of rest I take the road to Laos

- Thursday 13 : Raise the alarm a little earlier this morning because I have to leave the room at 11am and before lunch I want to  go and get an oil massage before waiting for my transport to the border at noon. A good rice dish and some internet time that the massage room opens its doors.

The room opens a bit later then I do a massage of about 40 minutes so as not to be late. I believe that unforgettable sensation of being massaged, glowing like a worm ... and naked like him.

Back then to take a shower and do my bag and leave the room. I bring a sandwich for the road. Before leaving I leave a little note to Emma (I wish him good luck and I leave my email address) and I told to Sin, the owner, to transmit it.

The minibus arrived around 12:30 and the time to fill in the various cottages guesthouses is about 13h when we leave Chiang Mai. Beginning of this quiet road in VIP minibus, good road. It stops after about 1h30 in a cashew factory with many different recipes of it, we could eat there and drink a coffee for half an hour before re-launch.

We continue to Chiang Rai. We stopped about ten miles before, to the very famous white temple "What Rong Khun" it's worth a visit. At this hour it sparkles, literally. The details of the sculptures and the work of a goldsmith to stick thousands of tiles and gleaming varnish, in order to live a dragon, or a samurai. The fresco on the inside is just as sublime and the large eyes of a dragon painted above the door looks at you alarmingly.

Only a short break again less than half an hour but it was so beautiful to see. Once we left runs the final straight, a little more bumpy than before anyway, an hour and a half while watching through the tinted windows of the vehicle, the sunset over the rice fields behind the beautiful peaks rock reminiscent of those emerging in Halong Bay in Vietnam.

We finally arrived at destination after a little less than 5 hours away, in a hotel in a quiet part of Chiang Kong very nicely maintained, with rooms in buildings in a single stage whole teak, decorated with beautiful gardens. For those who took the full package like me, we fill our papers immediately for the visa and it is the hotel who will save them in the morning to board the boat faster. We have a coupon for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning and tickets for the boxed lunch on the boat.

Once completed i settled in my room and change clothes so that there is nothing that can bite those pesky mosquitoes that seem to me rather greedy. I make some photos of dimly lit garden torches, and go to see where we have dinner. Many people have already eaten and went for a ride along the Mekong. I prefer a quiet place, eating and drinking Pad Thai and Singha with a pair of other young people looking a DVD in English. Bed early, 22h50, to get up at dawn so as not to lose too much time at the border and to climb onto the slow boat.