Prestons Visit Northern Thailand and Laos

Away Suasawan! Chiang Mai

Zip! Zip! Zooray!
What to do next? I’ve always wanted to try zip-
lining and after a brief introduction on a grade 9
field trip in the fall, I thought this would be fun.
We selected a day with Flight of the Gibbons.
They promised us over 2 km of zip-lines in the
jungle tree tops, inhabited by the gibbons.
What a blast! We were a small group of 4 with 2
guides. We flew
through the trees.
Our first stop was a beautiful resort in Chiang As for the gibbons?
Mai, northern Thailand—Away Suasawan. We did hear them.
Before we went on holiday, we decided we The day was
would like some quiet, restful time. However, it combined with a
wasn’t long before restless feet got us on the hike to the top of a
move. We spent one day on a motorbike waterfall and
exploring the nearby countryside and one day lunch.
zip-lining. So much for R and R.

Spa Time
On the Road to
We left the resort with no destination in mind.
Chiang Rai
We would just go out to explore the nearby
We left Chiang Mai and took a VIP bus to Chiang
hillsides. We passed elephant camps, waterfalls,
Rai. VIP means you get a package of Oreo type
beautiful rice terraces, but nothing inspired us
cookies and some water. Oh yeah, the seats are
to stop until we arrived at a beautiful spa in the
definitely more comfortable.
hills. How could we
Chiang Rai is a much smaller city than Chiang
pass this up? The
Mai; therefore, more quaint. We enjoyed the
grounds were
night market and the food as well as traveling
beautiful with small
the countryside on a scooter.
massage areas set
We climbed up to a waterfall that was quite
up around a lake.
nice, especially since we were the only ones
Sooo…we tried it
there. But the best, was a visit to The White
Temple.

out.
 Prestons Visit Northern Thailand and Laos
Next Stop, Laos!
There are no VIP buses to Chiang Kong on the
Thai-Laos border. So we just had to hope the
bus held up and we had a good driver.
We did. We arrived intact after 3 hours, just as
scheduled. A tuk-tuk took us to the border…the
Mekong River.
We were soon across the river and in Laos
where we were met by someone who helped us
with the Visa process, not cheap for Candadians
at US $42 each.
A River Cruise
We had pre-booked a “private” boat transport
down the Mekong. We had 14 people onboard
as opposed to 50+. This meant we all had a seat
and were comfortable for the 2 days we were
on the water.
Food and sight-seeing were provided as well as
one night accommodation half-way down the
river in Pak Bang.
The Mighty Mekong
We were taken by surprise by the Mekong
River, full of rapids and rock outcrops. We flew
through sections and estimated we were doing
10 knots through the rocks. Phew!
We stopped in a couple of villages to give us
an opportunity to see local Laos life. We found
it to be less exotic than northern Thailand. Two
days later, we arrived in Luang Prabang.
Luang Prabang, UNESCO World Heritage Site
This was the destination. We had heard so
much about this city: the fact that the entire
city is a World Heritage Site, the laid-back
nature, the blending of tribal cultures.
We were surprised
and disappointed that
it was over-run with
tourists and prices
were very high.
However, it was laid-
back, the ambience
was wonderful and
the scenery along the
river beautiful.
We enjoyed the
night market, the daily
 Prestons Visit Northern Thailand and Laos
alms giving to the monks, a full day trek and a
motorbike ride to some outstanding waterfalls.
But we were happy to return to Thailand with
better food and softer beds.