For most of the Thailand/Laos border the Mekong River is the divider. The border offices in our region were closed by the time we arrived from Chiang Mai. So we spent a night in the small town of Chiang Kong. In the morning we went down to the Thai Immigration office and got our exit stamps. Then took a ferry across to the Lao Immigration office and got our entry stamps. I exchanged a 1000 baht bill for over 200 000 kip, a thick wad of 5000 kip bills.
Then we bought tickets for a 2-day boat cruise that would take us down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang. This is one of those deals where they sell you the ticket before you ever get to see the boat...
The boat they were using for this cruise was a cargo ship. They jammed about 50 backpackers into the hold and strapped our luggage to the roof. There were no seats/benches and if you wanted to go to the bathroom you had to walk on a thin plank over bilge that lay beside the running boat engine. It was a tricky procedure, but your reward was a lovely closet with a hole in the floor so you could do your business into the river below.
The boat ride was uncomfortable but the scenery was great. We met some interesting people on board. Things got better on the second day when about a dozen people ditched us and took speed boats for the rest of the trip.
We stayed in Luang Prabang for two days, using a quiet guesthouse on the edge of town. There are basically two major daytrips you can make from Luang Prabang. The first is a series of caves full of buddha images and the second is Kwang Xi waterfalls. We decided to join some other people who were going to Kwang Xi and split the cost of a boat to take us there. The falls were spectacular. But if I had it to do over again I would have gone in the early morning when there's less tourists.
On the evening of the 29th we caught an overnight bus to Vientiane. The bus took us up and down a long series of winding mountain roads. I stared out the window until the sun went down and the sky grew dark. Watching all those green mountains vanishing into the distance. More Pictures From Western Laos... Slowly going down the river 
 Foggy morning on day two of the boat trip 
 Our guesthouse in Luang Prabang 
 Driving through the mountains to Vientiane
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