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"It's this whole other country"
-- Forrest Gump
Laos.... country number 16 on our fair trip around the world. Another language, currency, culture, horrible road network and method of going to the toilet.
We left China first thing in the morning and decided to walk across the kilometre or so of no-man's-land between the countries. The landscape had been changing slowly as we wound our way south of Kunming, and long before we reached the border we found ourselves in South East Asia Proper - jungle, palms trees, opressive heat, spiders as big as your hand, the lot.
We entered Laos and were immediatly struck by how lovely everyone was. The customs officials were playing Petanque, our first taste of the colonial French legacy. We bumped into Alex the Russian, who we had met briefly in Kunming, and a Swiss guy called Fred, who were waiting for a bus to Luang Prabang. We thought we'd join in.
After all, I remarked, it's only a hundred miles - even in the worst bus on the worst roads with the worst luck it can't take more than three hours. We'll be there by late afternoon.
Fourteen hours later, at four in the morning the next day, we got off the bus in our new home. Dropped rather unceramoniously at a dark bus station two kilometres out of town we had to walk, bang on the door of a few guesthouses and then find a bed for what was left of the night.
But it was all good, because a few hours later we were awake again eating croissants in some cafe and having a good time with our fellow bus chums - a British couple called Chris and Andrew. And who should be in the Internet cafe? Only Will The Panda from Chengdu, that's who.... small world.
We like Laos so far. It is quiet, relaxed, and as discussed, everyone is lovely. Even the rather seedy fellows offering us a smoke on their opium pipe do so with a smile. And the guy who walks around with an automatic rifle begging for change (a very effective tool - take note beggars around the world; that mangy puppy will get you an extra few quid, but an automatic rifle is the way forward) laughs like a friendly maniac.
- comments
graveday worst luck? well boys, great to see you made it out of china. actually in laos and caambodia you may well find that type of bus ride is more the norm rather than the exception. sometimes the buses don't actually show up and you get to spend 12 hours in the back of a ute. but still, there are worse places to be stuck in the world... enjoy!