Wow that story actually deserves a post for itself. I bet you would get some nice upvotes on that :)

I also thought about going to Laos via the slow boat, but I decided against it, because I only had 2 weeks to spare and I felt like that was not enough to explore Laos properly. Instead I flew to the south of Thailand. My plan is to visit Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia the next time I get to Southeast Asia.