Hotel On The River

Two countries separated by a river. We're beginning our journey from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos. After taking a bus to the border between the two countries, we had to stay the night in a small town called Chiang Khong on the banks of the Mekong River. We weren't too excited about staying overnight because we were anxious to get on the boat and be on our way. 

We arrived at Baanrimtaling in late evening. The guest house is basically a collection of wooden huts on the side of a mountain joined by lots of wooden stairs. In other words, a giant tree house! We got a room with a private balcony and a river view, but it was already dark when we checked in. 

The next morning Yuriy woke up awfully early to snap some photos of the sunrise from our balcony. Not so easy to drag me out of bed! Lucky for me, one wall of the room opened up completely so I could enjoy the incredible river view from bed. It was magical.

The place turned out so neat that we wanted to stay longer than one night! It's one of those places where you don't ever have to leave the property. There's a restaurant and a cozy living room with movies, but mostly, I'd want to curl up on my balcony with a book. Not really a town for tourism, so you won't worry about missing any sights. Looking back, I wish we had stayed one more day.

- Julia

Our balcony with a view of the Mekong River at sunrise. That's Laos on the other side of the river.

Yuriy opened up an entire wall so our room joined the balcony. Brilliant design.

Other rooms of the guest house seen from our balcony.

Slow boats traveling down the river. We'll be boarding one in a few hours.

Enjoying an amazing sunrise view from bed (through a mosquito net).

Front of the guest house.