Patuxai war memorial, Vientiane, Laos. RoadtoWander.com.

It has been a long few days for us getting out of the hell hole that is Pattaya, back through Bangkok and up to Laos.  The scenery from the south coast of Thailand up to the capital of Laos has changed dramatically, for the better.

15 October

So after a rubbish nights’ sleep in the ‘Youth Hostel’ accommodation and peeking out the window at the gloomy weather in Pattaya we decided enough was enough so we packed up our stuff and left.

Outside the hotel, we hailed down a tuk-tuk/truck to the Bus Station and got the public bus (for 113 baht each) back to Bangkok at 10.40am. I don’t know why it took us 4 hours to get down to Pattaya from Bangkok and only 2 hours to get back and at a fraction of the cost but oh well. Whilst we were on the tuk-tuk we both felt seriously sick and had hot sweats and started panicking that we would have to stay in Pattaya for longer. After realising it must have been our malaria tablets (doxycycline which you have to take the day before you go into a malaria area) we decided food might help, which it did and we were back to normal.

Our local bus to Bangkok was surprisingly nice and 10 times better than the one on the way down (although the rain did start dripping through the roof and onto my leg although I am used to this driving in England in Shaun’s VW Golf haha). After a million taxi drivers started trying to haggle us at the bus station to use their taxi to the train station – one for 400 baht, then another for 250 baht – we ended up getting a metered taxi costing just 100 baht. Having not booked in advance there was only 1 first class ticket left on the overnight train to Laos so we had to get a second class seat instead for about 700 baht each. Basically, first class is private rooms and second class is shared with 30 others in one cabin. Our beds were made as soon as we got on so Shaun and I watched some Born Survivor (to prepare ourselves in case we got capsized in the swamps) and watched as Thailand merged into Laos out of the comfort of our beds, a really nice experience, and drifted off sleep.

16 October

The train left at 8pm last night and was supposed to arrive at 8am today. When we were still crawling along at 10.30am Shaun and I started to worry thinking we should have gotten off somewhere, then a guy laughed at us and said that we had stopped during the night because the track was flooded and we couldn’t get past. We ended up getting to Nong Khai (Thailand) at 1pm. Aside from the really long time on the train, it is a really nice way to travel, and seeing northern Thailand and Laos in the morning was amazing. There were people working in the paddy fields and massive pools full of water lilies for hours. I would highly recommend taking the overnight train.

At Nong Khai we got on another train to Thanaleng (Laos) which took 10 minutes. We got our visa on arrival for about 35 US dollars each and got a minivan with another couple into the town centre to find accommodation. After about 5 minutes walking around with heavy packs we settled for the second hotel we had been into called Vanhoung for 800 baht (including breakfast) and our first nice hotel of the trip.

By 3pm we had sorted ourselves out and were starving, having not eaten since 8 the night before. Hardly anything is open at this time around here so we ended up going to the only place, a Moroccan, where someone could speak English (I know … poor effort).

After a stroll back to the hotel, in desperate need of a shower, Shaun was out cold like that, first time he has slept in about 3 days.

That evening we took a nice walk down to the Mekong River where they have lots of food stalls, and fair games and had the obligatory Beer Laos.  It would have been rude not to.

The capital is very French, a huge influence from the war, they even drive on the other side of the road. This in mind we were able to grab some fresh donuts of a stall at the end of our road. It is so good Shaun has just gone back for seconds!

A la perchoine, Jo & Shaun