Laos! Finally…

Well, the bikes are gone, and Pasquale has headed off to Thailand. Sad, but it had to happen sooner or later. Me and Rhys however, have just completed an epic 24 hour bus journey to the capital of Laos, Vientiane.

It took 12 hours just to get here, the border with Laos, which looked somewhat like a building site, since they’re in the process of building proper border posts, and in the meantime you get your visas in a static railway car.

Then after another 4 or 5 hours on another bus, we got on the overnight sleeper bus. Rhys told me it would be a bus with spaced out and totally reclining seats, so we were pleasantly surprised when we got on and found that there were actual beds, albeit tiny ones about 5 feet long and 3 wide. And then we realised that we were sharing one…

I think its safe to say that travelling in Asia has been a bonding experience for me and Rhys generally, and we’ve shared beds along the way, but this, was definately the next level. My legs, are not bent in this photo through choice. Cosy. Sleep was not really an option.

And now we’ve got to Vientiane at 7am, and we cant get into our dorm beds till 12, so we’re basically just staggering around the time, smelly and bewildered, until we can get in there, take a shower, and go to sleep…

And now i have about 10 days to explore Laos, one of the countries i was most intrigued to see. We’d better get on with it. Up to Vang Vieng in the morning hopefully.

~ by zendog888 on 05/01/2011.