In our ever changing travel plans, we tried to cancel our flight from Laos to Bangkok on the 5th and opted to take the luxury liner UP the Mekong to Houayxai and across the border back into Thailand. The flight cancellation process was a little dodgy, language being what it is, but we did our best and were told by the Lao Air representative to take it up with the original booking agent in Chiang Mai. He assured us we could get our money back, so on the strength of that, we booked passage on the Luang Say, a two day journey including one night in Pak Beng at the Luang Say Lodge. It was half the cost of taking the trip the other direction so we considered ourselves lucky. It was indeed, a lovely trip and the lodge quite magnificent, even if the hike from the river to the steps leading to the reception area was quite a hike. You see, the river rises and falls quite dramatically throughout the year and it is useless to try to build a permanent docking area. At certain times of the year, I'm sure you disembark right at the bottom of the steps...but not this time of year. Now we have done the Mekong, at least that stretch of it up and down and in pieces. Suffice it to say, this was a really luxurious treat.
We arrived in Houayxai the afternoon of the second day. What a change from our last crossing! There are two piers, one for large boats and one for small, no organization to speak of, boats and loads of freight and trucks and tuk tuks and cars all competing for space on the steep ramp. We had greased the wheels with the guide on the boat, a young Hmong man who was patience and perseverance itself, and he somehow got us through all of the horrendous confusion, into a songthaew, through town to the other dock and Lao immigration, back down another ramp and into a tiny boat full of our luggage (including two giant rice bowls we decided to buy...wooden, hand-hewn...only a little heavy) and off we went across the Mekong and into Thailand...at the beginning of Chinese New Year, into the chaos of the que for passport control, up another ramp and into a car which sped us into Chiang Rai and a newish hotel with incredible water pressure...though it was decidedly lacking in charm...and there we were. Of course there is more to this...but maybe later.
So we ended up in Chiang Rai after all. And since we ended up with 2 days in Chiang Rai...
3 countries, 3 border crossings, 3 lengthy river passages, countless kilometers, several Lao anti-massages and a handful of Thai REAL massages, river boomtown boat landings, intestinal fortitude breakdowns, Chinese New Year celebrations with artillery-sized fire crackers rendering us deaf for half a day, we found ourselves at the doorstep to the Pie Lady's pie case on the Mae Suai river about an hour southwest of Chiang Rai...and voila! We ate pie!!! One for Shelley, one for our French American ex-pat friend Denny, one for Sun, the hired driver and one for me. Mmmmmmmm....nothin' like a piece of $6000 pie to brighten our day. We found her, photographed her, spoke with her..."No photo!" She was kind of like the Pie Nazi at first...Muzzy said, "I traveled a long way to have your pie..." "What pie you have???" "Uhhh...I had the Choco-mud, Madam had the mulberry, our driver had the mulberry and our friend had the choco-mud..."No photo for you!" "But, I read about you!" "What magazine?" "Sauveur..." "Oh?" "Please, I traveled all the way from America." "Oh, okay." She's a toothless 88 year old spirited woman well in charge of her pie domain and keenly aware of her pie-rock-star status. Her gray-haired son works the counter with her, she has an army of pie-cutters and servers and she oversees the whole operation with an iron fist. It is an extremely popular place filled that day with 2 tour buses full of Chinese and Thai tourists because of the long weekend, Lunar New Year (of the Rabbit)...so...mission accomplished!
We returned to Bangkok yesterday and ate at the delicious Jok Pochana, spent the night listening to revelers downstairs because we got the bad room over the deck. It was like siting above a soccer match. Today was our second assault on Chatuchak, and a successful one it was! We got out of there before the temperature climbed too far above 89...the humidity had wilted us to mere replicas of our former selves...I know, poor us. Now we sit awaiting the all-night bus to Ranong followed by the 2 hour boat out into the Andaman Sea to Koh Phayam.
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