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...

Our week in UlaanBaatar was uneventful but productive. We were warm and happy in Oasis, and had a yard to work on the car in (so we rotated the tyres and got the car cleaned). We visited the Natural History Musuem, on Thursday because it's closed Monday and Tuesday and Fintan was hungover on Wednesday! So we did get to see all the dinosaurs - very cool. It looked like they were the original remains because the bones had numbers written on them. I, accidently, bro...

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...