Crossing borders

Crossing borders always seems to be an adventure for us. Nothing ever goes as planned, everything always costs more than expected and somehow I always seem to be hung over on the day. I'm sure the last one has something to do with always feeling like we should leave every country with one final good night of partying. Crossing into Laos tested our patience with being ripped off that's for sure. We certainly knew better than to go with a tour but Thailand just makes it so easy to book everything and for some reason you think this one will be better than the last. 

Who would consider that you would have to pay a middle man (lady) to actually cross into Laos. Let alone pay her more because you don't have American dollars. I guess Thai Baht wasn't good enough even though we were actually in Thailand? After getting swindled out of an extra $25 she finally took us down the street so we could walk across the river. 

Fortunately once we entered into Laos we we're greeted with smiles, baguettes and our boats for the two day journey down the mighty Mekong. The trip was long, hot and extremely loud, but we became good friends with a lovely couple from Manchester and spent most of our time with them, which made it actually quite fun.