Bangkok to Vientiane (Laos)

On our last day in Bangkok, we booked a tour to the Bridge over the River Kwai and the floating market - the market was very touristy and full of souvenirs. After being shoved between various minivans and tourist traps, we were glad to be back at the end of the day and decide that we prefer to do stuff independently rather than organised tours. The next day we got a train from Bangkok to Phitsanulok, 5 hours; about 300km and possibly the best train journey so far, on a half empty air-con train where we planned the next part of our journey in reasonable comfort. We stayed in the super clean Lithai Hotel which turns out to be a really nice double room with fan, TV and shared bathroom - all for 3 quid a night. Phitsanulok was a welcome break after Bangkok with virtually no tourists and a proper local's night market serving great food; it is a good place for a day trip to Sukhothai. Sukhothai (the original Thai capital) has a historical national park, which is an ancient city full of amazing preserved ruins, we hired bikes and cycled around the sites. Cycling in the heat is definitely the way to get around, it's cooler, you cover more distance and it's less tiring than walking all day.

Our next destination was Lampang in North West Thailand, we took a train 200km further north from Phitsanulok which took 6 hours. The scenery on this journey was fantastic and changed from flat paddy fields to mountainous jungle, it was a slow journey which seemed to climb forever through mountains. The Riverside guest house was a beautifully restored teak building with some really nice surrounding gardens with hammocks for some chill out time. The main attraction for us in Lampang was the elephant sanctuary we visited. We saw 15 elephants close up doing various party tricks (including painting!), how they work moving logs around and how the mahouts train and care for the elephants. We visited the elephant hospital where there are about 8 elephants with various problems like wounds form land mines, we also had the chance to feed a 6 month old baby elephant. To finish off the day we had a ride on an elephant round the forest, it was great to be up so high on such a huge animal and great to know that the animals are being well looked after. We have so far avoided any other opportunities for animal rides or shows because of drugging and cruelty.

From Lampang we decide to give Chiang Mai a miss and head further north into Pai, which is described as a 'mountain paradise of easy living' and by now we had enough of towns and cities. The bumpy, windy four hour trek up into the mountains (where Daniel discovered he now suffers from travel sickness) got us the hippy hang out in the mountains. The Golden Hut bungalows was home for the next few days, where we had our own detached bungalow (wooden shed) on stilts right on the river which was good for the mosquitoes but not for Vanessa who has suffered the worst from mosquito bites. The town was really chilled out and a welcome break from the polluted towns and cities we have been in so far. The main activities in this area are organised trekking, rafting and kayaking tours but all involve a long journey (again) in a mini van through the mountains which we don't fancy and the brown river doesn't look inviting either! So we opt for a DIY tour on our hired moped where we cruise around visiting hill tribe villages and waterfalls.

From Pai we took another bus about 200km north east to Chiang Rai which is supposed to be like Chiang Mai but on a smaller scale. The night market had loads of entertainment and food stalls which was an excellent place for grazing on meat and veg kebabs, battered just about anything from shrimps to crickets and worms. Chiang Rai was our last major town before heading east into Laos (we had been travelling north for over a month now) so we use the time to do all the things we may not be able to do for a while including getting money out of an ATM and getting any decent internet connections.

A local bus and the slowest Tuk-Tuk ever got us to Chiang Khong where we had planned to stay but decide to head straight across the Mekong river which serves as the border crossing into northern Laos. With our Thai exit stamp and Laos entry stamp, we arrive in Huay Xai where we stay for one night before heading south on a 2 day boat trip down the Mekong river. What we though might be a nice relaxing couple of days cruising down the Mekong actually turned out to be a really uncomfortable couple of days in a boat packed full (literally not enough seats) full of backpackers. A stop over for 1 night in a pretty rustic place called Pak Beng where it was a bit of a battle to get a bed for a night, because we all arrive at the same time and its first come first served. The scenery along the way on the banks of the Mekong and the mountains beyond were stunning and more than made up for the 8 hour stretches on the unbelievably uncomfortable wooden bench (we resorted to sitting on our life jackets for extra padding!).

Finally we arrive in Luang Prabang, a quiet town in Laos full of French provincial architecture. The town is full of cafes, bakeries, boutiques and bistros (not what we expected to see in Laos). Most of them expensive and beyond our tight backpacker budget but the bagels and Lao coffee go down well. We also bump into some friends of Daniel's mum - Chris & Malcolm Lincoln from Hythe, who we knew might be in Laos at the same time as us, but we had no idea where so it was really nice to meet up with them for dinner and bore them with tales of our trip so far. From Luang Prabang we did a day trip out to see the Kuang Si waterfalls, which are stunning, lots of tiers tumbling over lime stone formations.

The 6 hour 100km bus journey south through some stunning mountain villages and yet more windy bumpy roads got us into Vang Vieng. It's probably more famous for its surrounding areas rather than the town itself, all round the town there are fantastic views of lime stone cliffs, rivers and caves. The town itself is full of TV bars all competing against each other in terms of sound and most of them continuously showing endless episodes of Friends (much to Vanessa's delight and Daniel's horror!). It was on the bikes again for a 15km cycle out of town to a cave trek, through villages waving at local kids who all came out to greet us. The highlight of this trip was taking a tube (very popular mode of transport on rivers in Laos), a headlamp and follow a rope into a small hole through the rock which leads into a 500m long cave - a lot of fun but Vanessa took some persuading!

From Vang Vieng we took the local bus which stops continuously, including for petrol and for the driver to do his shopping. The bus rapidly fills up to the point where the rucksacks have to go on the roof and the seats have to be shared between 3 when 2 people to a seat was already a struggle. Finally we arrive in the Laos capital city - Vientiane. It seems a very laid back place with lovely French style buildings on the banks of the Mekong. We hire bikes again and cycle round the city taking in all the sites. We plan to stay in Vientiane for 3 days before moving further south through Laos and eventually crossing the border into Cambodia.

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