Vern: Vientiane, capital city of Lao PDR, is a ridiculously small capital: We didn't come across a full-size grocery store, I recall only two sets of traffic lights, zero cross-walks, and the Presidential Palace was boarded up. Green sheets of plastic were patched across the front gate, between the national flag and the communist flag (yellow sickle on red). These flags were paired together throughout the city and throughout the whole country. Despite the nation ...

Vern: Six hours in a cramped minibus isn't fun. Even less so when the driver stops whenever he wants and fills any remaining spaces with locals who take up just as much space but pay a fraction of what the 'falangs' pay. Luckily, however, the views through the bus windows were splendid! The foreground was green and rambling and the background: an artwork of random peaks and troughs in three lightenning shades of blue. One day, a large sun-deck will be constructed...

Vern: At 5:30am a tuk-tuk, dropped us off in the centre of Luang Prabang, but we could really have been anywhere. It was dark, there were few street signs and real life never looks like the map. A Kiwi couple suggested a cheap place to stay, and a helpful local (who wanted nothing from us, only to help two strangers in the dark - most unusual in Asia) set us off in the right direction. We found the place and collapsed onto another firm mattress just as the sun wa...

Andrea: "I think I could swim that." "I could definitely swim that." "What would we do with the bags?" "Couple of trash bags would work." Five further minutes of deliberation ended with us forking over the money for a boat to ferry us across the 100 meters of Mekong River that separates Thailand and Laos. More money forked for visas and we were officially in the border town of Huay Xai, searching the dusty roads for a guest house. We immediately found a suitable ...

Vern: The bus stations in South East Asia never seem to be conveniently located, so with each arrival in a new town comes a frustrating stand-off between us and a tuk-tuk (or sawngthaew or minibus) driver who is attempting to charge the same amount we paid for a three hour bus strip, for a 10 minute ride into the centre of town. The solution we've learnt is to climb on a vehicle full of locals and only pay what they pay, but it isn't always easy to get a spot: wh...