Loving Laos

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I've been slack. This blogging is harder than I thought. I will go back and write about our beautiful island Ko Chang, and Bangkok, but I thought I had better update you about our whereabouts.

As you can tell by the title, we are now in Laos. We are in South Laos, in Pakse. We crossed the Thailand border yesterday, after catching an overnight train from Ayutthaya to Ubon Ratchatani, and then an International bus which took us across the border at Chong Mek.

The train left Ayutthaya at aroiund 8.30pm, and we had booked second-class sleepers, which were comfortable and clean, but it's a bit hard to sleep when everytime they stop at a station (which was often) there are announcements over the loud-speakers. Also, you can't really see anything, but you can feel the train sometimes going slow, and then other times realy, really, really fast. I must have managed to get some sleep, because I woke up to Patrick's alarm at about 6.15am. The train arrived at Ubon at about 6.45am, and that's when life became a little more interesting.

Our Thai Lonely Planet is about 7 years old. It's been fine though as maps rarely change, prices obviously do, but as long as you have a vague idea of where you want to go for accomodation, food etc we have found it's better to check a couple of places out yourself rather than relying on the LP. We do have an up to date Laos LP which we purchased in Bangkok, which told us about a bus across the border that left 4 times a day from the "main" bus station on Ubon. Only problem was our Thai LP had a map of Ubon, with about 4 different bus stations, none of them listed as 'main' bus station.......tricky!!

We jumped on a local bus from the train station, and got off near where our map showed a bus station.....it no longer existed! We then walked and walked to another station, it kind of existed, but there was no one around to get information from, and it was pretty clear that no international bus was leaving from here. So, it was now after 7.30, we would have missed the first bus anyway, we had had virtually no sleep, no food, no coffee, and we had no idea how to get to where we needed to be......Those of you who have seen me without food, sleep and coffee...... I need say no more.

We had coffee so at least that problem was solved, and Patrick spoke to a local who pointed us in the direction of yet another bus station, which we still weren't sure was the right one. We asked in the Seven Eleven, they pointed us somewhere else, then some tuk-tuk drivers tried to show us something else on a map. At that time, a lovely Melbournian man, working at the university in Ubon, just happened to be driving past with his lovley Thai wife in there lovely air-con car He sees 2 hot and bothered Westerners who clearly have no idea where they are or what they're doing and takes pity They knew the bus station we needed but weren't sure how to direct us, so a sweaty, smelly, unwashed Sage and Patrick piled into their car. They deposited us at the bus station, came inside to make sure it was the right station and there was a bus, and left. Absolute life-savers.

The new Thai LP has an updated map of Ubon, apparently the scale was out, still not sure if it lists 'main' bus station though....

The rest was easy. Bus ride to border, walk through immigration, mad dash to bus for pocketknife and carefully planned sheet of passport photos (though not quite planned well enough because they were in my big back-pack under the bus and we hadn't cut any of them out ready), back to Laos immigration, forms, cash, more cash to actually collect your passport (?), then back to bus.

Arrived in Pakse around lunchtime, found Guesthouse (this time from the LP), and then the best shower EVER. After a couple of beer Laos, all was good with the world again.

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