Layla and Ste

So Friday 5th we were up early to get our boat over to Phuket - our last destination before heading home! :( The boat journey was fine, we both fell asleep straight away before getting woken up suddenly by some Thai man trying to sell us a taxi for when we got off. Once he left we were just sitting in our seats when we noticed the guy next to Ste had his head on Ste's shoulder, we thought he must have just fallen sleep, then he hand flinched and landed on Ste's leg! Then when I looked at his face again I noticed his eyes were open!! He looked dead! Well I thought he was until his whole body started twitching and he went into this huge seizure, right next to Ste! It was awful ... read more

Apologies for not writing for the past couple of weeks but though Id would give you all a break from reading, and myself one too. We are now home safe and sound, but still wanted to write about our last couple of weeks! So the last time I wrote was nearly a month ago when were leaving Laos. Monday 25th Jan we crossed the border back into Thailand, all went smoothly, got shoved onto a bus heading to Bangkok straightaway without even having time to ask how much or how long it was. Luckily it was only 7 pound each and it got in about 9pm which gave us enough time to get the over night train down to Chumpon right in the South. A lot of travelling. Our train arrived early Tues morning and once ... read more

This could be my shortest blog :) So we arrived here yesterday fine, was only a 3 hour bus so quite pleasant really. Searched as usual to find a nice guesthouse, a little bit more pricier found here. Had a nice dinner down by the river in the evening. Today (Sunday) we decided to do some more job stuff on the computers since there isn't an awful lot to do in Vientiane. There are a few temples to see but we are all templed out now to be honest and have got quite a bit of stuff to sort out. Tonight we will have some dinner again down by the river were there is also a night market so will have a little wander down there. Then tomorrow we are heading back to Thailand down to ... read more

So we boarded our minibus and set off for another long bus journey. Turns out the minibus plan didnt work out and I spent most of the journey feeling car sick...first time since we've been away. Anyway we eventually arrive safe and sound, found a guesthouse with a lovely clean room and bathroom freshened up and headed out. Now just to brief you, Vang Vieng is famous with all south east asian backpackers, everyone we have met goes on and on about this place, not for its beautiful sights but for...geting drunk! Yup! It has this activity called Tubing which basically involves sitting in a giant huge rubber ring and floating down a river stopping at these riverside bars on route, maybe doing a few rope swings and basically ended up battered before sunset. We heard ... read more

So last Monday (18th) we finally made it up in time to get our early bus, another long one about 6 hours, once again all through the tiny windy roads in the mountains, beautiful but uncomfortable. We arrived in Phonsavan late afternoon. Now we had only really come to this town because there is a sight thats meant to be amazing called the Plain of Jars, most people we met weren't bothering to go out of the way to come see it but Ste and I decided we would seen as weren't going to do south laos we wanted to see some more in the north. So after arriving in this pretty much deserted sleepy town (another one) we wandered around once again trying to find a nice guesthouse for us and finally settled down for ... read more

So friday was spent with another early start, another long bus journey, although it was a stunning journey! Thats the thing with these busses, the journey is all through the mountains which at times can be pretty crazy as the roads are tiny, some are in really bad condition and they have hundreds of corners and curves, but the scenery is amazing!! Just driving through these mountains in the middle of the jungle going through local villages, so we dont mind the journeys too much, just as long as our driver goes slow round the corners!! So we got here safe and sound, got a tuktuk with a group of people from the station which nicely dropped us in the towns expensive area!! All the guesthouses were giving their prices in dollars...not a good sign. We ... read more

So we arrived in Luang Nam Tha on Wednesday evening which basically consisited of 1 main road with a few guesthouses on so it wasn't too difficult to find something we liked. Got a double room with hot water, fan and tv for 40,000 kip which is just under 3 pound, bargain! After settling in we headed out to find something to eat as hadn't eaten hardly all day on the bus, a guesthouse a few doors down had a pretty cool restaurant that was reasonably priced for a tourist place. We had a little walk around although the main area is pretty small with not a lot going on. There was night market mainly food and full of locals which we wondered around before heading back for an early night. Thursday we ended up sleeping ... read more

So last Thurs (7th Jan) we boarded our 15 hour night train to Chiang Mai. We had been tight again and booked the reclining seats as they were much cheaper than the sleepers. Turned out we should have learnt from our mistake when we did the seated train in China as we hardly got any sleep! But hey, saved some money! Train was ok, woke up early friday morning to the most amazing scenery travelling right in the middle of the jungle, it was sooo beautiful. Little bit chillier up this end in North Thailand (when I say colder I mean 28/29 as opposed to 35!) Finally arrived, got a free tuk tuk from the station to this guesthouse that persuaded us to stay with them $10 again although no a/c not that we needed it, ... read more