Chiang Mai and beyond.

Chiang Mai has been a revelation for me. After my experience in Bangkok, I had very little interest to explor the rest of the country.

First the city is much smaller and less polluted. It still has a very thai charm.
The landscape on the way was very forresty with beautifull rolling hills. The scenery reminded me very much of the vietnam war movies like Apocalypse Now and Platoon. Very cool.

The people here are much less pushy and friendlier. I also see much fewer tourists around.

I've decided to stay an extra night here in Chiang Mai so I will be departing for Laos on Thursday morning. On that morning, I will take a 4hr bus to the border town (forgot the name right now) between Laos-Thailand. I will need to spend the night there so that the next morning I will be able to cross into Laos, and take the Slow boat to Luang Prabang. The slow boat will take 2 days with a stop in a town called Paksan.

I will try to upload some pictures, but the connection here seems very slow.
Furthermor, As soon as I enter Laos, my internet access will be a lot more sporadic.