"I travelled for two days from Luang Prabang in Laos, to Chiang Kong, Northern Thailand in a long tail boat up the Mekong river operated by a local fisherman and his family.
The scenery epitomises some of last untouched, uninhabited virgin rainforest in Southeast Asia. The trip will remain with me for years to come, not least because I shared the boat with a four foot monitor lizard, who was purchased by the fisherman off a hunter that we stumbled across. The boat pulled in to shore, money exhanged hands and the monitor lizard was a brought aboard! For seven hours I stared at this prehistoric beast, as he stared back, occasionally flicking his tongue at me from his safe position at the opposite end of the boat, under the captains chair!
The following day, after I had rested at an eco-lodge on the banks of the Mekong, we set off again - no lizard in sight! The fishing family seemed well fed and watered, and keen to teach me some local card games which they did and they proceeded to clean me out of Kip (Loas local currency). However, knowing that Thailand was fast approaching and currency is not exhangeable, I was remarkabley gracious in my defeat!"