Twice now we have ridden elephants in Thailand. Once, in Chiang Mai three years ago. And once, in Kanchanaburi. Both times we rode in seats on top of the elephant’s back.
It is awe-inspiring to sit so high from the ground and be taken for a ride. But I wanted more. I wanted to ride bareback and I wanted to be thrown from the elephant’s back into the water. So we made plans to visit Thom’s Elephant Camp just outside of Pai, Thailand.
From Chiang Khong, we traveled via local bus to Chiang Rai. It was pretty simple a far as travel days go. Our hosts directed to the bus station, which was a ten minute walk from our guesthouse. Buses leave every half hour, cost 65 baht, and take 2 – 3 hours.
Chiang Rai was a bigger city than I expected. It is a lot like Chiang Mai, only smaller. (But still bigger than I thought it would be). I was thinking Chiang Rai was a small mountain town. I guess being surprised is what happens when you are not the trip planner.
There’s not much going on in Thailand’s border town of Chiang Khong. We had just entered from Laos and were planning to stay a few days, thinking we could use the town as a base for exploring the Golden Triangle region where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet.
The southeast Asian country of Laos is sandwiched between Thailand and Vietnam with Cambodia to the south. It would make sense to add this country to an itinerary when exploring the neighboring countries.
So should you travel to Laos?
As a family of 5, it is not always easy to find budget accommodation. We did pretty well in Laos. Sometimes our 3 girls shared a double bed. Other times we didn’t get A/C. We don’t mind if the rooms are old or poorly decorated, but we look for clean rooms. All of the rooms we stayed in had western toilets and hot showers. Here is a run down of the places we stay in Laos.
We arrived in Luang Namtha after a long van ride from Luang Prabang. We found a guesthouse on the main road and headed to the night market for dinner.
We had planned to take the slow boat from Luang Prabang to the border town Huay Xai before leaving Laos.
Actually, we originally planned to come into Laos in the north and take the slow boat to Luang Prabang, which is what most people do. But we were in Bangkok when we were ready to leave for Laos and wanted to explore Northern Thailand after, so it made more sense to start in the south and end in the north.
We had a lovely time in the historic district of Luang Prabang. We spent 10 days mostly chilling out and enjoying the beautiful mix of French and Laos in this once colonial town.
For a long time Vang Vieng, Laos, was known as THE party place for young backpackers. Bars lined the river. Backpackers could tube through beautiful scenery, swing on rope swings, slide down water slides, and get really drunk.
Any Direction We Choose 