OMG we're in Laos!!!

Lol, well we had quite a trip up to the border. We got on a bus at Chiang Mai bus station going straight to Chiang Khong (border town Thailand side). The bus was supposed to take about 5 hours, and by the time we had been on the bus 5 hours we were still 100kms away!! Needless to say we got to Chiang Khong a lot later than planned lol. We decided to stay a night at a beautiful guesthouse and cross over the next day. Our room was so gorgeous and we had a four poster bed and balcony overlooking the Mekong river and into Laos. Was pretty cool as our first glimpse of the country. The couple who ran it, an American guy and a Thai woman were so nice and he gave us tonnes of advice and many many stories about Laos. Kind of people who have been everywhere and once he got started he was talking for hours lol. Sweet guy though!

We had a wander around the town and the market and it was really nice to see a proper Thai town that had practically no tourists at all. The next day we got a free lift down to the border/river crossing. Immigration and customs is practically non-existant over here. They literally just stamp your passport and barely look at you twice. Quite funny as there is so much smuggling that goes on here. It was literally a tiny building by the river and we then walked down a very slippery muddy slope and hopped onto this teeny tiny boat that rocked and swayed whenever you moved! When we got to the other side we weren't really sure what to expect. After signing a few forms and very swiftly getting a visa in our passports we made our way into Huay Xai town. It was a very small place and you instantly feel the difference to Thailand. You could tell Laos is a poorer country. There are no 7/11's or big shops anywhere and as it is a communist country, every shop and most restaurants literally sell exactly the same stuff! It's quite funny really!

We eventually found a hotel/guesthouse and went and had some lovely dinner, our first Lao meal - red pork with sweet sauce and rice, mmmm was soo good! Although the town was not pretty itself and actually fairly run down, the surroundings were stunning. Sitting right on the Mekong river bank with little fishing boats almost like canoes everywhere. The fisherman all wear those wooden round pointed hats (if you know what I mean) that you imagine every one in Asia to wear. There were rainforest covered mountains either side of the river, covered in low fluffly clouds and kids and dogs running riot everywhere! Did see quite a lot of tiny little open shacks, not even the size of a shed, made with sticks and leaves just by the side of the road. We eventually realised that people live in them! Was quite shocking to see, although we knew we would see that sort of thing, you look at them, then look at yourself with your lovely clothes and ipod's and such and just feel so bad. Even though we know we can't help the fact that we have more money than them, you still feel guilty!

We then very excitedly booked out tickets for our 2 day boat trip down the Mekong the next day and went out for a Lao curry. It was the most amazing curry ever! Made with so much coconut and so sweet and creamy and mega filling, they do have some good food out here!

Will write again soon and tell you all about the boat trip! How exciting, we have been waiting for this part of the trip to come around for months!

Had best scuttle off now, lots of cafe's to sit in and people watching to be done!

MASSIVE Love to everyone

x x x x x x x x