The border, nestled high up in the mountains was strange. I imagine, it would be very easy for somone to illegally cross here, they would simply have to climb slightly further up the mountainside, which is covered in lush vegetation, and would never be sighted. The official crossing consisted of a piece of rope, which was manually lowered or raised depending on whether you could cross or not.

Formalities over, we climbed into our next minivan, this time I sat in the front as an attempt to ease my sickness, I was foolish to realise that this meant sitting next to Monika. Nevertheless, I tried to sleep the duration of the journey and take in the surroundings. Everywhere is so lush, there are no houses, no people, just greenery, and dramatic charcoal roacks and mountain faces which dominate the surroundings. Low cloud hangs over the forest covered mountain tops, making the scenery more spectacular.

Thankfully, the journey didn't take quite as long as anticipated and we arrived at our hotel, which from the outset looked decent enough. It wasn't until Kate sat on her bed and discovered ants we got slightly concerned. We rang down to reception to inform them of the situation, for which they merely just removed the top bed sheet, hardly illiminating the bugs. Once again, my permathrin pesticide came in handy.

Having survived on a diet of pringles and cookies for the day, we went to the hotel restaurant to order some food. The already limited menu, was even more so, when the staff informed us that they only had about two options to eat. AJ had told us there were no other places to eat in this town, but we found a local restaurant which would just have to do.

I wasn't quite prepared for my ordering of fish, to come as a whole fish, head and all, with a few lemons placed decoratively on top. As the only male left in the group, Mark dutifully cut off and disposed of the head and skin of the fish, and his other duties include exterminatinf cockroaches. The fish was actually pretty good once disected, but after returning to the hotel, we weren't in for a good night's sleep, as it appeared a large wedding reception was being held, was blared on through to the eraly hours of 7 am the following morning. Just what you need when you have been sleep depreived. Hopefully the capital of Vientiane would be better...