the journey continues

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Two nights ago we took the 14 hour night train to Chiang Mai. Being the smart economically conscious travellers that we are, we packed our dinner and all our snacks. It felt fun to be on our bunks hanging out, reading, and listening to music. A man came around the train at 9:30 pm and set up everyone's beds. Adam slept on the bottom because it had the most space. We ended up both sleeping on the bottom bunk because I thought I was going to for sure role off the top bunk in the middle of the night. The train felt like it was doing slolum along the tracks and there was only one rope that was "supposed" to stop you if you fell off. At 6:30 am someone came around to tell us the train had "broken down" and that we had to get on buses that would take us to Chiang Mai. It was interesting to watch everyone wake up, gather their belongings, and run off the train. It was the perfect example of one of those stressful travel situations that everyone talks about... the ones that test your true patience. Thankfully, everything went well for us for one main reason: we had food. Once we got to the bus, we peeled some oranges, put some peanut butter on some buns, had a couple oreos and we were happier than two 3 years at Christmas.

Yesterday we spent the day exploring Chiang Mai. There were quite a few things Adam and Ryan didn't have time to explore, so we mostly did that. We also had some passport photos taken for all of our border crossings.

Today we are taking a bus to the Thailand/Laos border where we still stay the night. Tomorrow we will get on a ferry that will travel up the river to Laos. The whole trip takes about two days and is supposed to be a very beautiful ride. We had a choice between taking the "slow" boat and taking the "speed" boat. We decided since we aren't really in a hurry, why not take the slow boat. The guy at the hotel said we made a wise choice.

Update: We've changed our itinerary slightly. We are going to head to Cambodia after Laos because we will be very close to the border and it makes more sense than travelling back up to the capital of Laos to go across to Vietnam (some of these things you only realize when you get here). The extra added bonus is that I will no longer be having a Cambodian Birthday. We'll be on the coast of the South China Sea in Vietnam instead... a major upgrade.

More from Luang Prabang when we arrive.

Lots of love,

Poke/Nicole
xo

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