Overnight stops (in date order): Khao Lak (x5); Tri Tang Beach (x10); Luang Prabang (x4)
On May 8th, at the Laos/China border, we meet the ‘guide’ who will accompany us on the drive north through China to the border with Mongolia. To get home, we will also have to cross two-thirds of Russia. Because Russian embassies will only issue visas to citizens and residents of their host country we have to send our passports back to the UK. We preferred to do this from a fixed base and from Thailand – perhaps the most tourist-friendly country in the region. Our decision to fly to Phuket for the wait was not at all influenced by a wish to spend a couple of weeks in nice hotels on the coast of the Andaman Sea!!
Being short of cash, we found work in the kitchens of Patong.
Our passports, with Russian visas,
arrived the day before we returned to Luang Prabang (Laos) where, being the start of the rainy season, the air had cleared of the smoke
and the Frangipani,
Hibiscus,
Bougainvilleas
and plants that I cannot name
were in full bloom.
We had time to visit the UXO (unexploded ordinance) information centre which explains that, 40 years after the American bombing, hundreds of Lao people (many of them children) are killed or maimed each year and describes the ongoing efforts to clear the land of the many millions of unexploded bombs
and, in particular, cluster bombs.
We took one last boat-ride up the Mekong
to the site of a cave temple,
before we collected the truck from the bus station
and, after a month of sleeping in proper beds, got back on the road – north towards China.
We said goodbye to Laos
and crossed the border at Boten on the 8th May.
Responses
Andrée says: Bonjour à vous deux! Merci Paul pour la photo des moines. Danielle, j’ai bien reçu ma carte postale. Le message est pour vous dire que les photos sont superbes mais en fait dans le journal, il y a un article sur Myanmar ville Mandalay qui se situe entre le Laos et la Chine. Il paraît que c’est un paradis pour les yeux. Je le crois d’après les photos dans le journal. Un visa est nécessaire pour visiter. Les hotels, la nuit coûte environ entre 8 et 12$ mais difficile à obenir… Peut-être vous avez prévu d’y aller???
Andrée says: Bonjour à vous deux. Nous avons reçu votre carte postale et Lorraine aussi!
Simon McIlroy says: I am almost convinced that this double gap year you are taking is a preparation to continue your respective careers in either a florist/garden centre or a restaurant or with an outdoor adventure tour company. Frangipani – I always thought that that was an up-market pasta dish. Safe journey