To Laos: After the day on the bus and a night on the thai border town, we had to get the slow boat over to Laos (There are two options to get into laos: slow boat and fast boat. The slow boat takes 2 days and the fast boat takes 6/7 hours). We chose the slow boat because we heard horrendous stories about the fast boat- apparently it is the size of a canoe and is crammed full with 8/10 people who have to wear helmets, visers and ear plugs as the noise is piercing and you get soaked! one flips every week apparently! no thanks! The slow boat however was not great by any means. It was a slightly larger wooden boat with bench seats and it was crammed to the rafters. We boarded it with low expectations and it was OK. But only just bearable! we spent around 7 hours on it on the first day. It was ram-packed beyond belief. People were sitting on the floor! we were lucky to have our bench seat (which was very painful to sit on for more than 5 mins!). We stayed over in another village in outback laos where the electricity gets turned off at 10.30pm every night and comes on at 7 ish! so strange! we had to have a candle in our room! The journey has not been easy on Han with her bad bad knee. The getting on and off boat etc has been a trial! Worried about how the trip will pan out as it is so difficult at times and she is so frustrated its getting her down. Its fine in terms of travel when we carry bags etc but its just what she really cannot do at all- sites and activities etc. Lots of scenarios have been discussed- but no easy answer is available to us! The following day was day 2 on boat. We got there early to secure a seat and we managed to do so. The boat was actually bigger today so we were pleased. However noone seemed to know the exact length of the journey and the time ranged from 6 to 9 hours! It ended up being more like 10 if you include the getting there early bit! It was truly terrible as we kept picking up locals from the river beds who were really sick and had sick children with them! They were coughing and hacking up all sorts and spitting all over the shop! the kids kept weeing in parents laps and we were surrounded! God- it felt like torture! The poor things- i have never seen anythings quite like it. Getting off the boat was relief in its greatest form! Finally we had landed in Louang Probang, the once capital of Laos. We stayed in a little guest house we found by chance, run by a little man who we named mr mayaggi. It was extremely cheap and right in midlde of main drag and were able to get a ground floor room for hannah! Louang Probang itself was small esp to say it was once the capital. It used to be a french colony so we tried a little french with mr mayaggi. Everything had become too much for hannah so she went to the hospital to get x-rays etc. Good news is there was no break or fracture so we were pleased about that, however no diagnosis was made and the language barrier was frustrating. She organised getting crutches which she has to wait a day for since they couldnt find them big enough (everyone in se asia are teeny tiny in height!). Han bumped into all the sick people from the boat and said they looked a lot better! Myself and MC went to get traditional aromatherapy hot stone massages with the canadian girls. Its so cheap we thought we'd treat ourselfes after the whole boat fiasco. It was lovely, but id stick to the non-stone kind next time as they were damned hot! The following day we went to the waterfall, leaving hannah to rest (not nice her having to miss out) which were beautiful. We spent a few hours there and swam in the falls half way up. The best waterfall i think ive seen on the whole trip (and i have seen rather a lot now!). The final day we had arranged minibus transport to Vang Vieng (5 hours south). We thought minibus would be better than coach for hans leg! She was able to elevate it but not best support so still failed to get her comfortable! Driving through laos was beautiful- the landscape is very mountainous and lush. I took a few pics form the window of the van en route. However the road was extremely windy and most of the girls felt sick!! oh dear. We arrived in vang vieng and it poured down so we seeked shelter in restaurant/bar opposite our chosen hotel. It played Friends back-to -back! and the seats were cussions on the floor or a raised platform with little coffee tables, so we were occupied for the duration of the evening! The following day the rain had not stopped! MC and I plus michelle and Kat (the Canadian girls) went 'tubing' which is the famous activity everyone does in this town. It involves getting in big tyres and floating down the river stopping off at copious amounts of bars purposely placed on the river beds complete with rope swings etc. I was a little sceptical at first as the river was part of the Mekong and very brown!!! But we had A LOT of fun!!!! getting to the banks by the river was a mission in itself, then drinking beers and a spirit called Lao Lao which was free and everyone kept shotting it tasted like a cross between whisky and tequilla...absolutely disgusting in the highest degree! ha. Lots of people were tubing despite the weather so had fun in a big group. Didnt do the rope swing though- i was NEVER gona put my head under that water! We got back after about 5 hours of tubing and had dinner with the entire group we tubed with and the girls who didnt tube of course. A very good night was had. I loved the day lots- a very happy laura! The next day we left Vang Vieng and headed to Vientienne- the capital. We had to get there as Hannah was planning on leaving for Bangkok from there in order to get checked out properly. It was a very very hard decision to make as obviously we didnt want her to go, but her knee was not getting better and she felt rotten about missing out on everything! The plan was for us to see her to the airport and a family friend was picking her up at the other end. It was an emotional parting, but i figured she would rest a week and then fly out to meet us again. The rest of us were going to Hanoi in vietnam from there too. The canadians went the night we arrived and we followed on the following day so we could get han to airport on the morning. So, we stayed overnight in Vientienne with Han and she very kindly booked us into a very swanky hotel (for laos) and wouldnt let us pay! We were handed a cocktail glass of freshly squeezed orange juice at recepion! honestly imagine the scene- 4 sweaty hot backpackers one of which is on crutches and the others carrying a million bags in the lobby of this reception- we had to laugh! we were 'flash-packers' for the night! We saw han off at the airport that morning. Emotional but said we would see her very soon when she flies out to see us! not nice seeing her leave tho and us not be there with her. Here comes the 'bus from hell story'... We got to the bus station and we went armed with a packet of valium between us- we had heard it was not a pleasant journey and if you cannot sleep it is unbearable! so...to the bus at 6 o clockish for an overnighter of 20 hours. the bus looked old and had horrendous half curtain things and was packed high with random stuff on top, We put our bags on then got on. All the seats were taken by laoation or vietnemese at front- so we were sent to the back! great! Set off late, then stopped after 15 mins for a whole hour while all the locals on the bus bought stuff off the side of the road! and i think the bus drivers had their dinner! good start. Then set off again and a few locals tried to get me to move by shouting in vietnemese (i think) at me and being very hostile. I was not gona move though- the seats were bad enough as it was- i wanted to rest my head on the window so no way was i budging! they tried it with mc and fi too. it ended up with them sitting next to us! mc got practically sat ON, so moved. made a few hours head way before going down a gravel bumpy track which cannot be described as a road. The bus stopped and the horrible men sitting up with us on the bus ran off the bus so I opened the window and stuck my head out to see what was going on. It appeared to be a river- in which we were about to cross!!! the men turned out to be extra bus drivers and were in the middle of the river (waist deep) seeing the depth! I was petrified and had visions of us having to get off the bus in middle of river! Also, all our bags were underneath in the luggage hold and were bound to get soaked! great!, so in we went...we all clung on to our seats for dear life. I took a few pics- dont know if you will beable to make it out as it was very dark! ...we made it...just! then realised there were two more to cross! Apparently this is the road to vietnam!!! you what!!! ...not suprising an hour down the road we stopped and the engine had packed in! flooded! To add insult to injury we were in the middle of nowhere and it was the middle of the night and the engine was UNDERNEATH OUR SEATS!!!! therefore they unscrewwed all our seats at the back and lifted the floor to work on the engine! We ended up outside for an hour ish then we decided to just grab any seat possible and not move! so the valium took effect and we slept in between the engine being roared and about 6 men running up and down the aisles every two minutes. I thought perhaps a few hours time, they would fix it, or theyd send another bus for us. ...9 hours later we were still there! disaster! It was morning. no toilet. no food. no nothing. they finally fixed it and we drove for about 2 hours til we got to a town. They stopped at a garage and said it was a meal stop- come back in an hour. We had no money as you have to get rid of ALL laos money before you leave as it is not exchanged anywhere else! went back to the bus after an hour and they said, another hour...it turned into 4! re-fixing it apparently! I cannot tell you how awful it was really as i am not even doing it justice in these words. It took 36 hours in total and we managed to buy one packet of pringles to share between us in that time! We arrived in Hanoi in Vietnam at 4 in morning the day after we were supposed to be there. We knew the canadian girls would be worried since we were supposed to be meeting them the previous night. We got a room in the nearest place and slept!!!!! FINALLY! ...see Vietnam diary