The drive from Laos to Cambodia took 2 days in an overcrowded mini-bus but was relatively trouble free. Siem Reap: We were greeted at the bus station by swarms of tuk tuk drivers all trying to get our business/commissions which was a very overwhelming welcoming. We hired a tuk tuk drivery, Chhy, to take us out to Angkor Wat to see the sunset that night and on a temple tour the following day. Unfortunately it was cloudy & we couldn't see anything so we decid...

On the way to 40 000 Islands, I stopped in the capital city of Vientiane for a few hours. There wasn't much to do here so I just wandered the streets to see a few of the sights. Transit: Yet again, the bus in Laos was interesting and this was the most surprising & uncomforable of all. I had decided to take an overnight bus for this trip to save a bit of time but expected to be in normal seats until I was told by someone else that we would have beds like the ...

Vang Vieng: Getting to this city was a bit of a nightmare as we had to wait 4 hours at the deserted bus station for the bus. They had last-minute just cancelled ours & the next one was then late (on the relaxed Laos schedule). We ended up with a flat tire which delayed us significantly. On arrival, the bus then dropped us off ~4km from the main hotel area at 1AM & all 10 of us had to find our way to accomodations as all the Tuk Tuk's were finished for t...

I made my way across the border to enter Laos & had planned on going straight to Luang Prabang but missed the 2-day slow boat by 30 minutes as the border guards were on one of their regular 'lunch breaks', so I stayed in Huay Xia for one night and took a minibus the next day. There wasn't much to do there but wander around & talk to the few locals that speak english. The kids were adorable and all running up to me wanting to say hello. The travel throu...

I spent the rest of my time in Chiang Mai relaxing and spoiling myself with Thai massage, manicure & pedicure... You can't really go wrong in paying $5 for a massage - it was fantastic!! I also learned a lot from a Thai cooking class so I'll be able to make some of the great local meals when I return home. Sampling them all was teh best part. Today I took a Trek where I could visit the Longneck & Akha tribes & had them leave me in Chiang Rai so I ...