Today we drove to Wat Phou, an ancient site 200 years older than Angkor Wat. The ruins are still incredible to see and a lot of work has been done to restore some of the sites. We had thought we would have to drive south, then get a ferry to get to Champasak and hire a tuktuk to the site (it's 8km south of Champasak), but the tourist information told me that there was a new road, and the ferry does not run any more. So we followed the road across the Mekong, the...

After a couple of days in Thailand we went back to Laos - we just can't get enough of this place! Before we crossed over we caught up with Eric (one of the motorcyclists we'd planned to cross China with) and had a lovely cup of tea with him. Hopefully we'll see him and his family again in Australia! Over the second Friendship bridge then to Savannakhet... no real problems, although the Laos customs got a bit funny about the car, I suppose they normally only see ...

Vientiane is a capital city that you would barely recognise as a city, let alone as a the central hub of activity! But because of that it is a very special place... We stayed with Greg in his beautiful house on the Mekong, having beers on the balcony watching the sunset, waking up to the sound of the monks collecting alms and singing on their way to the temples. It was a really lovely place to spend a week, or two! I received the care package from home - with ne...

Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for our livers, Reuben flew back to Bangkok and back to work leaving us in Luang Prabang. We stayed a couple more days here and sorted out the car a bit. Having decided that the food is so good and so cheap here that we won't be cooking probably for the rest of the trip, or at least until Australia, we donated the supplies we'd been carrying to our friend living in Phonsavan. As well as the cooking pot that we used only onc...

What a long time coming! In the original plan, SE Asia was to be our half way point - where everything becomes a lot easier. We can get most visas at the border crossings, the food is delicious, accomodation is available and cheap and people are friendly but not staring at us! So, hoorah! We arrived in Luang Namtha after a full day on the Chinese side of the border. Not from our choosing mind you, the tour company had once againmade a massive error with the docu...