Larking about in Laos

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Laura and Sarah woke me up at 8am- I slept like a log- woke up on the fire ha! No I managed to drag myself out of 'bed' and looked at my mozzie bitten ankles- what the .........? I woke myself up once during the night scratching the bites on my hand, I think I must have done the same with my ankles as the bites were all bubbly blisters, or weeping- yuk! They weren't painful, just bloody irritatingly itchy! Anyway, onto breakfast which was a lovely bowl of scrambled egg, followed by pancakes & honey, and a nice cup of tea. As we were sitting eating, the heavens opened and it rained really heavy for almost half an hour. In a way this was kind of a blessing as it meant we didn't have to walk to the meeting point- the bus was coming to pick us up from the village. 
The women had set up a little market outside the sleeping area, and I bought some little embroidered bags and another bracelet. A lot of us decided to ditch some clothes as they were too muddy/ dirty to bother with. Boom told us to gather them up as the Akha people would wash and utilize them which was nice. We had a collection of tips and divided it between Tom and our host, (who's name I can't remember, nor pronounce) Who's home we had been welcomed into that evening. Translated through Tom, he said, ' thank you, and when you next visit, it will not be as a tourist, but as a friend' which I thought was really nice. I wished we were staying longer, especially as I didn't get to see the adorable little boy from yesterday. As we drove out, a little girl was stood clutching her doll waving to us. She had big beautiful eyes, and such a happy smile on her face. Apart from the cold shower and spiders, I really enjoyed the simple living of the last 2 nights, and time with the Akha tribe in particular. All such friendly warm people with a tough but simile way of living.

 Back in the Songthaew we couldn't decide what smelled the most- us, or our bags. Either way we smelled bad- damp, and I was looking forward to a nice shower. We were going back to a hotel in Chaing Rai; the best hotel in town Boom had said ( I think this was because it was quite possible the ONLY hotel in town) nevertheless it had a hot shower which was lovely. It was a quick turnaround as we had to get our clothes over to the launderette across the road. It was 10baht per item, so I picked the muddiest stuff that needed doing. We had lunch at the hotel, so I had a nice bowl of French Onion soup and Sam and I shared a pizza. Boom popped my mozzy blistered ankles and put some iodine on them- I've never had it so bad with Mosquitos in my life- they're relentless here in Thailand- particularly the northern ones! We did some hand washing, and Sam had a power nap before we were up and out again. By this point my itchy ankles were driving me insane. On top of that it was my turn to have a bit of a dodgy stomach, my throat felt a bit sore, and I was sick of lathering myself in bloody oily Deet everyday- it was stinking and clearly hadn't done me any favors. As I said to sam, I don't normally feel sorry for myself, but today I did.
That mood soon shifted as we got up to the Golden triangle. We first went to the opium museum which was small but quite interesting. These Thais know a good hobby when they're onto one, and I didn't realize all the accessories required for the opium habit- pipes, pillows, and even a diagram of how to sit heel to buttocks ' 'the greatest position for smoking opium' - apparently. There was a flow chart with all the measurement information of opium, and the advantages: euphoria, absence of pain and stress, and disadvantages: malnutrition, moodiness and death. Hmmm.....
There was an interesting section on the hill tribes, in particular the Karens (aka the longnecks) that wear those huge spiral rings around their necks. This is just the women ( we get all the great things don't we) as it is believed it will protect them from bad luck ( but you'll probably have curvature of the spine by the time your 23, but at least those evil spirits are kept at bay) 
We bought some souvenirs, and took some more photos of buddhas and a great one at the Triangle where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma) meet. We got a boat right into the centre of the triangle before heading over to a little island which meant we were now technically in Laos. I wish I'd of brought my passport to get stamped, but made do with sending a couple of postcards instead. We had a welcome drink of that rice whiskey, except these had a bit of a twist to them as they were made with different things, such as cobras, turtles, scorpion, lizard, banana, ginseng, and tiger penis of all things. I played it safe and had the ginseng one. It didn't taste much different from the one we'd had the night before, though I hoped that wasn't fermented with tigers nob.
I had a quick look around some of the markets which had loads of handbags- heaven! However I didn't have enough time, nor space to cater for anymore shopping so I just perused instead.
Back on the boat and over the river to Thailand, we went to 'the best restaurant in town' as boom had said. I didn't agree as the food and drinks took ages, and they mainly got everyones order wrong. We walked back to the hotel, stopping at a cake stall on the way, though it wasn't as good as it looked. Not stodgy enough like back in the UK. At one point we thought we were lost, but I tried not to panic despite being down a dimly lit street with what seemed to be quite a few stray dogs. Eventually we found our hotel- which by now I was almost certain was the only one round here. Just as we were going to get a drink from the bar, the lights went out and we guessed that it was closed, so we sat about reading for a bit before heading up to bed.
Sam thought she'd give herself a bit of a pampering and put a face mask on. I laughed at her in between singing phantom of the opera (she didn't look far off) but i soon stopped taking the p, when again demonstrating what a good friend she is, put some after bite on the mozzie stings on my ass (ouch) what a sight we looked, the pair of us, still- needs must. And so to bed, we both fell asleep reading, but made the most of having a bed, as tomorrow it was time to get back on the train.   

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