Easy as pie in Huay Xai...

Ooooooooooooooooooooooh it was easy!  We'd read varying reports on how to cross the border between Chiang Kong and Hauy Xai, and it was so much easier than we expected it to be!

Woke early after our night of potential doom in a room which could have been infested with spiders/cockroaches (holes in the ground y'see) so we spent the night fully clothed, and I wore a headband covering my ears because NOBODY wants a spider in their ear.

...but beware the scam!

ANYWAY, left the guest house, had breakfast and walked up to the border crossing at mid-day...it's about a 10 minute walk from the main strip of restaurants, etc, so wasn't bad at all.  Reached the departures office for Thailand, got a wee stamp in our passports, paid 40 baht each for the pleasure of crossing the Mekong to Huay Xai which took about 2 minutes (40 baht MY ASS).  Once there we went to the arrivals section, filled out our visa form, gave them 1 passport photo and 1500 baht each (cheaper to pay in dollars people, but we couldn't be bothered with the admin charge x2 for changing to baht then to dollars), the lovely man stamped it, we got our passports back complete with departure card, another man stamped in at the other window and we were good to go!

For those of you considering taking the 2 day Slow boat to Luang Prabang, you can actually bargain for these tickets, and don't go to the first place you see.  We were quoted 1100 baht just outside the arrivals place, and the cheapest we could get it for was 980 baht at our guesthouse - Friendship GH.  This place was pretty awesome actually!  We got the honeymoon room hahahaha which had roses on the pillows (real roses) and lovely, over the top red curtains complete with our own wee balcony bit!  And a huge TV with english movies.  AND they have a roof terrace where you can get the most amazing views of the Mekong over to Thailand at sunset.

A word of warning though, buy your provisions in Chiang Kong (7/11 and various mini-marts) as there aren't too many shops here, and buying decent food (bread, etc) for the 2 day boat journey was tricky here; consisted of crisps, biscuits and water!

The following day we were picked up at half 9 and taken to the slow boat dock...this was where the scam occurred.  Everyone taking the boat was sitting in a restaurant waiting to get on, when a wee guy got everyone's attention.  He told us he was an honest man, and wanted everyone to have the full picture before leaving (!); he explained getting the slow boat was uncomfortable and time consuming, taking at least 10 hours on both days.  He told us Pak Beng would be a harrowing experience; hostels would cost 400 baht per person at least, and food would be extremely expensive.  In fairness he did mention a few scams that apparently do occur in Pak Beng (as mentioned in Lonely Planet), but obviously there are ways of protecting yourself and your stuff.  He mentioned there was NO electricity in Pak Beng...and then he told us we could also get to Luang Prabang by bus or mini van for only 300 to 800 baht extra!  WHAT?!  Most people were thinking "what about the money we've paid for the boat?!", and the majority stuck with the decision to take it slow doon the Mekong, but we were all surprised by the number of people that opted to pay extra; at least 20 which is a huge amount of money in backpacker terms!

Oh, and if you're arriving in Huay Xai after 6pm you might find it pretty difficult to get accommodation as most people are there already for the boat leaving in the morning.

So buyer beware...it's not true, and we'll talk about Pak Beng in our next map stop!  TA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!