Slow Boats, Rip-off Towns, Strange Temples and the Wonder of Luang Prabang

From Chiang Mai we took a four hour bus ride to Chiang Rai. The road was like a very long Highway 17 and the bus driver was a speed racer. It was raining and we saw no less then three cars that had slid off the roadway and into the ditches that outline the highway. Christina was very nervous because the driver was Asian (just kidding he was very good).  (Seriously though, super scary!!-C)  We arrived at a stop and the attendant said "Chiang Rai". I looked at her and said, "Chiang Rai, here?".  "Yes, Chiang Rai" she replied.  Turns out it was not the main Chiang Rai station but another one 7 miles out of town.  We spent an additional $0.60 to take a taxi to the main town (Totally expensive!-C) .  The guidebooks listed a strange hotel that had theme rooms and we decided to check it out.  It was strange!!. They had a Thai boxing room where the bed was a boxing ring.  The room came equipt with gloves, punching bags, and a bell. There was also a star wars room, a mickey mouse room, a love boat room, and many others. We chose the Tarzan Room complete with fake tree ceiling and walls made of tree trunks.  None of the rooms had any windows and they all felt as though you were at an amusement park. This would have been a neat place if there were many people, but myself and Christina might have been the only two guests. So we walked around this large outdoor hotel and it was silent and empty. We decided only to stay for the one night. (The Lonely planet guide book promised a "unique experience," also with ping pong and pool tables... However, both Ping pong and pool table were missing, sad:(... -C) The next day, we took a trip to visit the White Temple, Monkey cave, and Golden Triangle.  The White Temple was built by a famous Thai artist with very modern and strange tastes (google white temple and look at the pics or wait for us to get home).  On the interior walls of all temples there are murals depicting various stories of the culture.  The white temple is not yet completed on the inside but contains in its mural the following: Neo from the Matrix, Predator, Alien, Pod Racer, F16 Hornet, Twin Towers burning, transformers, saw mask, Star wars characters, etc.  These images were mixed in with traditional Buddhist figures and storyline. Every building in the grounds of the white temple was white with one exception.  There was an all gold two story building in the center.  It was beautiful and everyone wanted a picture in front of it. It also was the only restroom. The architect of the Temple that it would be funny to have all the tourists taking pictures of the toilet.
From there we went to the monkey cave where we saw many Mackak monkeys waiting for people to feed them bananas. (We saw Alfie's homeland, Mom! Lots of monkeys roaming around us.-C) They were cute. Then we hiked up another 300 slippery stairs to a limestone cave.  It felt like an Indiana Jones movie. In the cave there was a Buddha Relic and statue and bats.  It was another strange temple, but maybe the coolest we have seen yet.
From there we took a long drive to the Golden Triangle and saw the border between Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand. (We also went to the opuim museum, yeah. Big movement here to plant coffee instead of opium. Needless to say, we've had great coffee here!-C)
The next morning, we crossed the border from Thailand to Laos.  It was chaotic.  Fifty or so tourists throwing their Passports into a window to be processed, no realistic line, to organization, just chaos.  I was nervous enough to let go of my passport, but standing and waiting for almost an hour for them to process it was unnerving.  We were scheduled to get on a slow boat that planned on leaving at 10am for a two day river trip to Luang Prabang, but at 10:15am we still didn't have our passports. Our Lao guide responsible for making sure we got to the boat (whom we met just an hour ago) spoke little English and just said, "no problem".  We finally got our passports back and made it to the boat. It didn't leave until after noon.  We were able to get comfortable seats, but Christina wondered into the back where the engine was and found some local Thai people, a South Korean, and a North Korean who had laid a spread of food on the ground and were drinking Lao Whiskey.  They invited us to join them for lunch. We accepted and sat on the floor of this loud slow boat eating cabbage, sea weed, french bread, and trying our best not to drink too much whisky.  After an hour, some germans, and an Auzzie had joined the group and sharred a bottle of rum they had purchased.  This is when the South Korean, who seemed to be in charge of this little impromptu lunch, informed us that he was the "Second Captian" and would be in charge of driving the boat next. This only worried me, because in the two hours we had been on board, I had seen him personally drink at least 10 gulps of booze. This is going to be some ride. (He wasn't really a driver....I think...-C)
We arrived in the town of Pak Beng at around 6pm. This town has a great racket. Every day, a new boatload of touristists stop for one night and then leave to go back on the boat. So the guest rooms and food are expensive, not very good, an a big rip-off.  We only paid $13 for a room, but it was dirty and uncomfortable.  To this point my experience of lao was not so favorable, but all that would change by the time we made it to Luang Prabang.  This town is quaint. The food has a slight french flair and the coffee is amazing. The prices can be a bit expensive in comparison to Chiang Mai but so far it is worth it. (We are riding bikes today through this little river town. Had fantastic traditional Laos food for dinner last night, and plan on learning how to take care of the working elephants for 2 days starting tomorrowwith the tribes people. Fun Fun! Still haven't located Sagat, sorry BB!  -C)
-J
    Dear Sun God, Please make it over the mountains from Thailand and visit us in Luang Prabang. It is cold here and we didn't bring any warm clothes. How can we tube down the river with cold air? Also, please sanitize the water.
Thank you, -C