Midnight train to Laos.

So....off we went to Laos. We got a night train from Bangkok which was interesting! Personally (the sky rail aside) i think it is the only way to travel. It was actually really fun, even if the staff did try and put us to bed at 9pm. It took in total about 12 hours but passed really quickly. We had bunk beds and being the lovely person I am I agreed Jen could take the bottom bunk as it was more comfortable. Hmmm big mistake. The top bunk was not good - you were shunted about (it actually had straps to hold you in), it was FREEZING and the light which was never switched off was glaring you in the face. But never mind, we had some beers and got to know the group a bit better (who are mostly really really lovely by the way). I searched in vain for the rumoured 'disco carriage' which I can only imagine to be paradise, but the best I got was a food bit where you could smoke. But the smokers section did provide some entertainment. Meeting a rasist sexist English guy who gave me directions to a great place in Laos where you could get great pie was a highlight.

(By the way, on the way back yesterday there was no smoking carriage and I was forced to spoke out the bathroom window like a 12 year old. This is no mean feat when you have to wedge yourself carefully and not move unless you want your food down the squat loo. )

We arrived a the Thailand-Laos boarder crossing about midday the next day and faced another obstacle - Jen being an illegal. She had overstayed her welcome in Thailand by a couple of days, and although some people had assured us it wouldnt really be a problem and she would just have to pay a fine, there was another school of thought which was that she could quite easily have been sent back to Bangkok and then a detention centre. Anyway, luckily she passed through with just a telling off from the police and a few hundred baht poorer. We then went to Vientienne (now in Laos) which is the quietest Capitol City i have ever been to. It was dead. We went to a couple of nice temples and then went and had dinner and drinks watching the sunset over the Mekong river. Lovely. Vientienne was nice but a bit boring, Im glad we were only there one night. In fact, my favourite bit about Vientiene was that it was there that we were introduced to banana pancakes with condensed milk. Heaven.

The next day we drove to Viang Veng which is a little backpackery town on the river again. Liked it there a lot. It is set in a valley with montains all around it. Really beautiful. Laos, by the way, is very montanous, and very beautiful, and sometimes very cold. We went tubing in Viang Veng, which basically involves you hbeing sat in a rubber tube and floating down the river. It started off really great - so peaceful and relaxing. Possibly it might have been better to do the tubing in the rainy season as the water is very low now so you did spend a lot of time scraping your bum on gravel or suddenly finding yourself stuck on a great big rock. A particularly spectacular moment was passing a bar on our way down the river and hearing YMCA blaring out. I was almost moved to tears watching the five of us doing the dance in our tubes. It was an incredible moment Im sure you can only imagine. Anyway...tubing was great but it took a LOT longer than any of us anticipated. 3 hours after the start, when 6 o'clock rolled round and the sun started to set, and hypothermia was kicking in, and we had no idea where we were or how long we had left we began panicking. This is where the tube rub (affectionately known forever more as 'trub') I had on my arms really got a bashing.

So that was our first few days in Laos. So far so good. Around about this point in our journey began the development of what we call our 'family' (namely me, Jen, John, Tracey, Nathan and Amy ) - 6 of us who spent a lot of time together, talking s***e. And I miss them already.

Will update again soon! Lots of love to everyone. xxxxx