Laos

Welcome to Laos, one of the most undeveloped and sparsely populated countries in the world. It is a step back in time to travel around this place. The village way of life still predominates, major roads are unsealed, foreigners are a bit of a novelty.

We crossed into Laos from Northern Thailand and our first journey into the country was a 10 hour bus trip over 180 km of haemmeroid inducing, gut shaking, bone crunching road to our first real stop - Luang Nam Tha. Here, we hung out with the locals and got a first hand glimpse of remote hill tribes and their trading practices. The kids were terrified of the Falang (foreigners) and it took a while before they would even come near us. There was a lot of staring, which seems to be the way people communicate with us here! That evening we shared a meal of chicken soup and rice whisky on a bamboo mat in a village with some locals. Again, more staring, particularly at the female falang! It was an insight into their way of living.

Our journey eastward to Nong Khiaw was a harrowing experience. After a 4 hour bus ride, where the locals displayed an unnerving propensity to vomit en-masse while the bus driver impersonated Speed Racer, making the bus lurch and change direction violently at each sharp curve, we reached Udomxai. Our next ride saw us hanging out of the back of a ute (Laos taxi!) as we crossed some pretty serious mountains. We drove through torrential rain, lightning and thunder (yes - we were still hanging out of the back!) and 3 and a half hours later, arrived a Nong Khiaw, chilled and drenched to the bone. At least we weren't alone - our backpacks and their contents had been drenched too. Nong Khiaw was spectacular; a little village nestled in between huge limestone mountains with a river that ran through the centre of town.

After a few days of drying our clothes and books, we caught a longboat 6 hours downstream to the beautiful town of Luang Prabang. You may actually be able to find this one on a map. The night markets are fantastic and we plan to spend up big time. Andrea has gained permission to lose control and plans to make the most of it.