Good afternoon everybody!

Debs here with the 'morning' report.

We are now in Laos, in between Thailand and Vietnam. We're in one of the main cities; a place called Luang Probang….AND WE LOVE IT!!!!! We weren't supposed to be visiting Laos because there's nothing here but greenery and it's too big! Vietnam and Cambodia are the ones on our list to satisfy any need to go to Laos….however, it worked out cheapest to travel overland to Vietnam by going through good ol' Laos!
We set off at 9pm Friday night (they told us we'd get picked up at 10pm so I was still in the shower) and the 10 hour journey over night turned into a hellish nightmare! Ended up being a 22hr journey! Was hilarious though…..here's how it went!

THE BORDER CROSSING

The 7 seater minibus (a big taxi basically) ended up fitting 13 people in, a few backpackers squeezed in next to the driver, me and Chris sat with all the bloody backpacks - Health and Safety eat ur heart out! All of us didn't know what the hell was going on but we've now learnt that the Thais are very good con-artists as the 6hr drive turned out to be 11 hours, and the 4hr 'speed' boat trip was basically a wooden boat that took 7 hours! Estimated arrival was 9am Saturday morning…..approximate arrival…….6.30pm Saturday evening!!!!

Along the way, our non-speaking Thai driver got us lost up a rocky mountain face, then we got stopped by police and had to show passports to prove we weren't immigrants, and finally when we arrived at the border, which was in the middle of nowhere may I add, we had to wait for 2 hours at 5 in the morning (the border was closed!) No-one had hardly slept a wink with there being no room in the minibus so everybody's patience was running low to say the least. This was when Debs decided to start a sensible chain reaction! I decided that now was as good a time as any to empty the entire contents of my backpack to check for any drug smuggling risks! Very sensible girl. (Chris sleepily agreeing but insisting that we wait at least until day break) Of course there was none, but better safe than sorry as our backpacks had been in storage all day at the hostel and anyone could wander in! So then the entire bus crew, some who had by now managed to fit 20 winks in sat up at the side of the road, began to empty their bags! Ha! There were Dutch girls, a German man with a Thai bride, French men, an Israelite guy, and a few English all pouring their life onto the roads! Funny.

So, we got though the border hunky-dorey and thought 'oh great, just a 4 hr speed boat trip now'…..how wrong we were!!!! We ended up now being squeezed into the back of a pick up truck for a 3 hour rally drive through the jungles of Laos! It was so rocky….and so god damn dangerous! We were skidding over gaping pot holes in the ground and whizzing along cliff edges, everybody felling a bit weird with the sleep depravation but managing to find enough energy to hold on for dear life!!! Then, it poured down. Our backpacks were dragged off the top of the truck and thrown in the back with us - like there was enough room for 13 MASSIVE bags - and the rain came in from the sides of the open truck and we all got wet and was cold. We still smiled though.

The next event was 2 flat tyres. Hilarious. We were now struggling to keep our eyes open, it being 11am (note to everyone that we should have checked into a hostel and been in our nice warm beds 2 hours previous to this) but luckily we were shifted into a passing truck with locals in it to finish the rest of our journey to the River. Thank God they were passing through - in the middle of nowhere I dread to think how long we would have been there for if they didn't so kindly rescue us!

And if that wasn't enough to finish us off, the next escapade was our new trucks (changed vehicles again at a breakfast cafe) got stuck in the mud! Ha!!!! Got it out in the end though. We had split into two trucks by this point and it was going quite well, the sun was out and we were all felling wired and hyperactive (obv. Over-tired) but a local got his truck really really really stuck in the mud and we couldn't squeeze past on the road, so stopped and offered to help!!! See the pics! Everyone was knackered trying to pull on the rope to get the damn thing free! Ha!

So we got to the boat and had a lovely time travelling down the Mekong River. See the pics, they're well nice! Everyone decided to get some sleep on the boat floor, but Chris being Chris bought a few beers and enjoyed the scenery for the whole afternoon! Fair play to him but don't know how he did it! He got up Friday morning at 9.30am and got to bed well after midnight on Saturday!!!! (We ended up getting some tea with our friends Laura and Dan, who we met on the trip over, and having a few beers)
Wrote enough now so Chris is going to take over. I'll just say that we love Laos, the older generation would too (sorry!) and we're getting another overnight bus in 2 hours for another 9 hour journey (Bet its 18 really).

While we have been here it's been great though…. Luang Probang is much quieter than anywhere we have been so far and is much less touristy (if that's a word). On the first day we woke up around midday because we were knackered and sorted out travel to Vientiane, which is the capitol of Laos - so we can then travel from there to Vietnam, and in the afternoon we went to visit a temple which was pretty much at the top of a mountain. That night we met up with Laura and Dan again and went for a meal and beer. This morning we were up at seven to go on a half day tour to some limestone caves full of Buddha's over the other side of the Mekong River (see the pics), was quite nice.

Only been here 2 nights and 2days but it's time to start moving again……… Then when we get to Vientiane we stay one night and it's another 16 hour journey into Vietnam!!!!! Gunna be a long few days!

Hope all is well back at home, will write when we have something to report

Chris and Debs xxxxxxxxxxxx