In Transit

I'm on my way back to Chiang rai right now. Asha didn't have money for the "bus" and wanted to just hitch hike back so we parted ways in Maesalong. The so called bus is more like a small truck with benches in the bed and a shell over it. Once again I'm the only white person on it although there are some backpackers from China I think. Most the people on here appear to be poor Thai farmers. There is this one guy in the back who has a white beard turned yellow with age that goes halfway down his chest. He only has a few teeth and even those look like they could fall out at any minute. His skin is tanned and wrinkled like leather, except the top of his head which is smooth an shiny like a brown babies butt. His clothes look like they haven't been washed in well. .. Ever. His pants are tied on with a piece of bailing twine and all the buttons in his shirt are gone. I wish I could take a picture of him because it's such a classic look but being the only white person in here I feel awkward disrupting the monotony of things. Instead I'm just sit here writing trying to take it all in. I've found I've started to take such experiences for granted. They don't peak my interest or curiosity like they used to. Every once in a while though I remember I need to take a step back and remember how I felt the first time I was in southeast Asia and all of this was so new to me.

Once I get to Chiang rai I'm going to see if I cam find a place to exchange my Thai baht for some USD then I'm going to catch a bus to Chiang Khong on the Lao border. I need the USD so that they don't rip me off and charge me $50 at the border for my Lao visa as opposed to $30. I probably won't actually cross the border until tomorrow morning at which point I'll take a slow boat up to luang prabang. The slow boat takes a couple of days though so if you don't hear from me in the meantime don't panic more than likely I'm ok.
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Well I made it to the border. I wasn't even going to attempt to cross it until tomorrow but then a couple that was on the bus with me from Chiang Rai said they were going to cross it tonight so I figured I mind as well tag along. There were a couple of issues with my visa though and so I'm still stuck in Thailand...Yeah, I don't really want to talk about it. Everything will be OK though and I'll cross the border into Laos tomorrow.