the mush-room to phu chaisai resort and spa

I have been on Asia time it seems, hence the bloglessness. We left the sublime to the ridiculous experience that is Angkor Wat and Siem Reap and flew north to Laos and Luang Prabang. " LP" is a bit like the Canmore of Laos, full of charming guesthouses, pretty decent food, and lots of outdoor and indoor things to do. However, our first night there we spent i what we have come to call the mushroom: a dank, airless, spore-filled cell that has left me with a bit of a cough. We moved down to a dry, airy, and spacious place near the river the next day. We spent a few days there, taking in the various hilltribe centres, wats, palaces, museums, etc as well of course doing some shopping. The night market goes every night and Traci was able to buy some very nice Laos skirts. Between wanting to mellow out for a bit and our various coughs, knees, etc we didn't avail ourselves of any biking, kayaking adventures but did go for a nice drive out into the country to see a local waterfall.

I think the best part of LP was the very nice Chilean merlot we discoverd at the local wine bar, the worst part was, yes, it has finally happened: I ate some bad noodles at a night market buffet and ... whoosh - both end (thankfully not simultaneously). This little
experience happened as we overnighted on out 2-day slow boat trip from LP north to Houey Xai, the Northern Laos/Thai border crossing. The boat trip was really nice, slowly chugging up the Mekhong through some quite spectacular country. Oh ya, the boat broke down! Fortunately we were able to drift, sputter, and pole our way to a beach on the other side of the river where another boat came along and picked us up.

So while I was a bit under the weather for day 2 of the river it was still enjoyable and I felt better as the day progressed. We overnighted in Houey Xai, a dusty, scruffy, border town enriched by the opium trade, before water taxiing across the river the next day to Thailand. Once rough all the border formalities we caught a rough and tumble local bus up to Chiang Rai, the main city in far northern Thailand. That too was a great little ride through some much cleaner, more organised, and generally more affluent countryside than Laos.

Afer all of that the main event of the day was finding our way up to the resort spa we had booked for ourselves. We had a hard time finding a taxi and finally rented a car and driver from a rental agency. We were both a bit nervous about our reception at the resort as well since I assume we are at the lower end of their clientele's income continuum. Besides, we were both pretty stinky... however, after climbing and climbing up through the hills north of the city we were met by friendly and welcoming staff who then UPGRADED us Yaaaay. I think what that meant is that besides the lovely 4 poster bed, very hot shower with super pressure, bathtub, robes, slippers, fridge, we also have a terrace on whichbto sit and gaze out over the great unwashed toling away below us.

More of the resor later as I have booked a 2 1/2 hour spa session where they will do far too many things to me to describe at the moment. Had a bit of the return of the whooshing thing last night so hope I get through ghe spa thing with my dignity intact. Traci will be by the pool....

Will try to be more conscientious about the blog dad,

KerryTraci