Day 23: Wednesday 9th March. Vietnam/Laos Border (Lac Sao). By Chris

We had to be down at breakfast today at 6am as we had a long journey ahead of us. But it was made so much better as the rest of the group who were finishing the tour in Hanoi all came down to say goodbye. We were pretty gutted saying bye to Alan and Lorna to be honest as we had got on with them so well and formed a really good friendship over the last few weeks.

We drove through some amazing scenery for the first 5 or so hours, really breath taking and great to pull in and stop fopr more pictures! The road towards the border was awful! Despite being amazing views on either sides, the cliffs on both sides were pretty daunting! We eventually reached the top where it was ridiculously misty and crossed the border! Well you could call it a border, I prefer a shed at the the top of a mountain where you have to give the guy sitting there an obligatory $1 service charge! Corruption? i think so!!!!

Anyway we had made it into Laos! The drive down the other side of the mountain was much more pleasant as the views here were even better than the one's we had just seen in Vietnam! Laos is beautiful, so peaceful and so untouched! We fell in love with it striaght away!

After a very long journey we pulled into a town called Lac Sao which had zero influence from tourism apart from our Hostel. it was set at the foot of a mountain and we pulled in just as the sun was setting over it, gorgeous! We then had a quick tour around the village/town before heading out fro some dinner at one of the few restaurants. Yet again Chicken Fried Rice and Noodles, beginning to want some good old fashioned Pie and Mash at this point but still it tasted amazing after a long day on the road. Also experienced amazing pancakes with condensed milk!! :)