Laos...lovely lush Laos! Well....the paperwork was finally accquired on monday morning and we headed across the border into Laos...only after a final look round the markets in Mengla(enough to put you off your breakfast...yes even me). The border crossing was uneventful....again, though we did have to bid farewell to John our guide(being honest though we would probably not have got lost quite so many times without him....but he was a nice chap!). First night in ...

Arrived in Dali feeling like I could eat a small child...I didn't....Had a yummy lunch of....well I'm not very sure what! Spent the evening repacking and watching the only english tv channel I could find....it was a bit of a novelty! Ave was my saviour and appeared with take-away and then I hit the sack! Dali is another slightly twee tourist town....but has a nice feel to it! So after posting half my rucsac contents home(well to Oz) a few of us hired bike...

So nice to feel normal again...after a hangover! The next few days were long long truck days as we made our way towards Chinsa proper, one high mountain pass after another. I never got bored losing myselfin the scenery...just how I imagined! However it's nice to be down low again.....those passes are a little hairy at times....especially when you encounter a truck the same size on a road wide enough for one! We were delayed numerous times due to landslides and l...

......I'm alive....I'm alive!!!! The scariest night of my life! I have never been so close to death....ever !!!! So...it's 1am, we've been waiting in a queue of trucks for approx 6 hours....and finally the road opens and traffic is allowed through! The frienship highway from the china/Nepal border to the Tibetan Plateau is in the process of becoming a 'real' road! It's not at the moment! The road is only open totraffic during the hours...

Kathmandu....not what I imagined! Smelly, dirty and big and noisy! I was really excited though as the trekkers(inc Rachel,Ave and Martin ) were rejoining us and I had missed them all! Took the chance to spend time in the pub, visit supermarkets(it's been a while) and catch up on the diary. Had the best meal since leaving home....cauliflour pie...mmmm! Booked abungy jump and canyon swing...all pollys fault....and then had to drink copius amounts of alcohol to forg...