We left Pai at 8 pm on a 6 1/2 hour ride in Mr Toad's Wild minibus. I probably already mentioned the 762 windy mountain curves you take on the road to Pai, well - what goes to Pai must leave Pai and we must endure the tortuous journey for a second time. This time our minibus is jam packed and John gets stuck sitting on the "seat" over the engine (normally reserved for the beverages for the driver). "At least we are in the front seat" we tell ourselves. I am on the verge of regurgitating my dinner like a mother bird about to feed her young (I know-a gross example if you visualize it.), for just about the entire way. One girl on our bus makes it past the 762 curves (which take the first 2 hours) only to get very very ill in the moderately curvy and bumpy road leading to the border town of Chang Khong where we get a catnap - 2 1/2 hours to sleep before we get up and go to the border to get our visas and head to Laos. The hotel operator was waiting for us in the driveway. There were 3 minibuses x 13 passengers each and believe it or not it went very smoothly - in an unconventional way. You showed the man your ticket which said whether you had paid for a package which included the boat or just transport to the border. As we had the latter, our hands were marked "boder" in pen and we were told to go grab a room, any room, 2 to each room. Then a couple hours later he woke us singing "good morning" down the hallway, you got a cup of coffee and piled into a pick-up truck (some on top of each other, me on top of the bags) and off to border we went. After you get stamped out of Thailand you take the ferry across the river to the Laos side where you fill out the paperwork, pay $30 and get your visa.
