Border Crossing: Laos to Thailand

Here were our options to get from Luang Prabang, in northern Laos, to Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, just a wee distance apart on the map.

1) Fast boat + bus = a speedboat which is liable to disintegrate on contact with Mekong River debris and is so dangerous that it may soon be outlawed to foreigners (1 day) + border checkpoint and 2 buses (1 day)

2) Slow boat + bus = 100 foreigners packed onto hard wooden benches for 10 hours one day, and 7 hours the next day to reach the border (2 days) + border checkpoint and 2 buses (1 day)

3) Bus + bus = 17 hours of windy, muddy, pot-holed roads in Laos to get to the border (1-2 days) + border checkpoint and 2 buses (1 day)

4) Plane = 1 hour

We like to consider ourselves intrepid travelers, but we were staring down the barrel of one month and three countries left in SE Asia... we took the plane.