Stories on Silk--China: a boat from Jinghong to Thailand?

Easter morning on Vashon Island

When the day starts like this, the whole week is infused with joy --which is bound to carry over into my work!

I finished the first draft of the text for my little book, Stories on Silk--China. I confess, it was a little intense, transcribing my journal notes and trying to decide what people would find interesting or insightful and what I should leave out. I'm getting some help with this part, the deciding part.

a page from my travel journal

I'm giving parts of the text to various friends to get their input, asking what should I leave in when I edit? So far I'm getting comments like, "It's all interesting!" or "You could leave out the part about the cockroach and the headache." Both are helpful; I'm too close right now to make an objective decision. In the end, though, the decision is mine.

Ive been checking my facts, too. I was sure, at the time, that I could take a boat down the Mekong River from Jinghong, China to Cheng Kong, Thailand. It's true the same river goes past Jinghong and down past Cheng Kong before going into Laos. What I should have realized--if I had bothered to look at a map--is that it also passes through Laos before it touches Thailand! And where would I be getting visas to go through Laos from China to Thailand? No wonder we couldn't arrange a boat from Jinghong!