The compartment was made up into bunk beds with crisp white sheets, beer was brought and breakfast ordered. The train stopped at a few stations and I am sure the 'waiter' was leaping off to buy the beer and in morning breakfast arrived at 6.30 suspiciously soon after a stop. We did manage several hours sleep, ready to face the challenges of the day.
We arrived in Nong Khai close to Laos border, and departed from thailand to thanaleng, on laos' only train. Got visa on arrival. So far so good! Then we got to the bus station in vientienne, not instantly recognisable as such, and all the buses had left for the day. At this point we realised we had not completed our homework and hadn't factored into our schedule the travel time to luang Prabang where we had booked a hotel. Whoops! We took the fastest option, a minivan complete with driver and monk (they really are everywhere) and after 9 hours of being tossed around on a very bumpy windy road we arrived shaken but intact! We passed many people living in houses on stilts right on the edge of the mountain and road, so our experience was positively safe in comparison. After a few anxious moments unable to find hotel (so near and yet so far) and the driver unable to understand english (the monk smiled serenely throughout) we arrived at the oasis of bel air resort ....