After 6 hours spent on two different buses in varying states of decay, we reached the Thai border town on Chiang Kong. From here it was a short hop across the border, and as it happens the river Mekong, into Laos via the slackest overland border crossing I’ve ever seen (EU doesn’t count). With the plan of taking the slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Phrabang, we were up early the next day with the intention of securing good seats. We’d been warned in Umphang by an American couple about the boat for the two day trip being absolutely…