Back in Chiang Mai, one of my favorite cities in Asia! My time in Laos was pretty short but since they only give out 15 day visas we really had no choice. The road route to Thailand from Laos is a very slow and difficult so we opted to take the "speed boat" option which proved to be quite an experience! ...

Before we left Laos we decided to go visit some silk weaving villiages and explore some waterfalls that all the tuk tuk drivers push so heavily on the tourists.
Laos and northern Thailand are saturated with many silk scarves and other woven products. There are plenty of tourist junk but some of the nicer ones are very beautiful! Kate seemed to have caught the bug so we spent many hours in the many silk shops and markets. We also thought it would be interesting to visit one of of the local villiages and actually see some of the locals making them under the shade of their grass huts. Kate rented a scooter while i rented a bicycle and we headed off to a villiage only a couple of miles away.

I always appreciated the amount of work that must go into making these complex scarves and I was hoping that visiting one of these villiages would help me understand more how they are made. Not quite. I wateched some people weaving for a while and was still a little perplexed. From what I could figure out by watching them, it seemed as though most of the work was spent just setting the loom up for a specific pattern. They use an amazingly complex set of strings and sticks and foot peddels etc...
Here is a woman at a loom instering a stick that seems to be used when they want the silk thread to be raised and not flush with the rest of the scarf.

Here is an example of one of the scarves

After Kate got some good deals on silks at the local market we headed back and went to the waterfalls that seem to be one of the main attractions in the area. They were very nice and had some nice clear pools of water to swim in but since we went so late, it was too shady and cold to swim.

It was also the dry season so they weren't nearly as impressive as they must be during the wet season.

The next day we decided to take a speed boat from Luang Prabang to the Thailand border since this option only took 6 hours instead of 2 days by road. I have to say that this is definately not an option for the weak hearted! First of all the boats are *tiny* and they pack them right in with people. You have to sit with your knees up or indian style because there is not much room for your legs. The engines on these things are so incredibly loud that it is hard to even explain. The best way to get an idea, is to picture being strapped to the outside of a small plane without earplugs! Amazing! The boat also is appropriately called a speed boat as it travels at times close to 30 - 40 miles an hour (in my estimation). Since you sit only about a foot above the water it is very intense! I have to say that it was pretty fun after I stopped fearing for my life so much. I really enjoyed seeing the tribes people fishing, washing and playing by the river although I kind of felt bad for the obvious noise polution that these things make.
I wish I had taken some pictures or a movie while we were going full speed!
Here is a picture of the type of boat.

To get an idea of the scale, you can easily fit one person per seat but 2 people is REALLY pushing it!
The border crossing back into Thailand was a joy. The 2 border towns were very small and peaceful and the border crossing was easy to miss. Not like Poipet in Cambodia!! No lines, no beggars, no swindlers.
We took a minivan straight to Chiang Mai which is one of the last places we are going before we leave back to the states. It is one of my favorite cities because it has a really energetic feel and some of the best food in Thailand!

I am going to miss Asia so much but I look forward to getting back and seeing you guys soon.
Bye for now!
JP