Just arrived in Chiang Kong, an unappealing, small town at the Mekong river. I made the trip in a small minibus - probably the most comfortable ride I'll have in a long time. Unfortunately the guy sitting next to me was the Canadian version of Grampa Simpson.

For most of the trip he simply wouldn't shut up. And when he finally did - and I managed to put my headphones on - he constantly made sucking sounds. Like every bloody second! God!

I was quite surprised when it started to rain on the way - I hadn't expected that in the middle of the dry reason. But I'm quite glad about it since I'm planning to go down some small rivers in Laos and I'm really worried that they might not have enough water.

The guesthouse is not great but o.k.. And it's directly on the Mekong so that I can see Laos on the other side. Tomorrow morning I'm gonna cross the Mekong and then I'll head up to Luang Namtha in a nine-hour drive on the back of a pickup-truck. I don't know whether they have internet there but if they do, I'll give you another update.