Four Go RTW

You know you want it, so here it is ……….. another train, minibus, plane, tuk-tuk, taxi and shanks’ pony trip, scream if you want to go faster.

We were travelling from Vang Vieng via Vientiane, Udon Thani, Bangkok and Surat Thani before reaching our final destination of Khao Lak. A straightforward journey to be sure including a border crossing that will take us about 30hrs, with little opportunity for a fresh pair of jocks. I know you all wish you could have been there.

Our journey starts as it has been mostly over the past few days - hot, even early in the morning. We’re packed and sat waiting our luxury transport (!) to Vientiane in the lobby of the Elephant Crossing. Being familiar with approximate timing we have become accustomed to watching the allotted time pass and typically wait a further 30 before takeoff. Not such a problem as the girls were happy playing tag with the others, while Rachel scrambled through the interweb trying to book a night having received an e-mail advising the hostelry of choice was full.

The van arrives, the driver gesticulates at me 4 which I took to mean he was expecting us. The luggage was heaved to the roof, I find nothing beats a good hernia work out first thing in the morning, and they were lashed down. We climb aboard to fill the last of the seats before stopping again to pick up 2 more punters, now all nicely crammed in 3 up front on 2 ½ seats and all available space inside occupied it was time to …….. oh and stop at a couple of random shacks and the petrol station.

Interestingly the 'turn your engine off', 'no smoking' and 'no mobile' sign was posted to the column by the petrol pump but I guess since the engine wasn’t turned off, the driver got out to have a smoke and was using the phone …. these are oviously more guidelines rather than anything important.

There isn’t a lot of tarmac road in Laos however the bit between Vang Vieng and Vientiane is, what it isn’t though is straight or flat. The undulations in the road, combined with the air conditioning was resulting in additional strain on the engine that meant something had to give, so not for the first time on this trip I began to melt. The bends only meant the driver had plenty of opportunity to brake hard into the corner sending you either for an unprompted close up view out the window or the opportunity, in my case, of sticking your head in some large co-travellers pit. 3hrs later (27hrs to go) we arrive in Vientiane a little nauseous from having tried to entertain ourselves with games, a little reading, spellings and written maths while Schumacher propelled us forward .

Sustenance needed, we pause to refuel a couple of rounds of the usual (chicken fried rice x3 / chicken noodles / mix fruit juice / coke / sprite x 3). Refuelled if not refreshed we thought we’d mix it up and go a little freestyle, not knowing if there was a bus anytime soon we negotiate a tuk tuk transfer us to the centre bus station to find out. Luck holding up there was a bus we could take right through to Udon Thani in Thailand, Happy Days!
Now for those who have crossed a land border by bus before will tell you (friends of ours unfortunately learnt the hard way!!) TAKE YOUR BAGS WITH YOU, whatever you do don’t leave them on the bus!!!

So making our way to Immigration having left our bags on the bus ……. It was all OK having learnt this valuable lesson ourselves, before alighting I entered into a game of charades with the driver gesticulating like a deranged person looking a lot like the Hunchback of Notre Dame ‘the bells!’. The driver didn’t want to take his turn or he was pretending to drive the bus, I could tell his heart wasn’t in it – up shot being you don’t have to take your bags off, and we arrived safely in Udon Thani, luggage intact.

Intact luggage en route to Udon Thani hotel:

Next morning and a plane journey to Bangkok arriving at 12:00hrs only 6 hrs to kill before the overnight train, hazzaaar! Weary at the prospect of heaving 40 odd kilos around for the next few hours we stop at the information counter to enquire if we can hire a room in a local hotel by the hour, my reputation building exercise on the last overnight train paid off and I was offered a room ‘$5 for long time’!! It was a classy establishment but we could swim and get the Golden Arches delivered before having to make our way to the station.

Have spent time scoping the station out before we winged it, collected my extra kit (all intact, in fact I’m sure they slipped in a couple of extra kilos). Despite the invitation we decided not to hang out with Mr & Mrs Roach and their son Cock again and we made our way to the train.

Ah, this must be our train:

Now consummate professionals at this we located our carriage and bunks without much of a tado, however we did need to undertake the appropriate testing of the ladders again – all passed OK. Despite the potential this journey passed uneventfully arriving in Surat Thani an hour late again with no onward travel arranged, that be dammed we had a spring in our step, the wind in our hair and the sun on our back (along with 40 kilos !!) A quick investigation and equally quick negotiation we secured breakfast and a driver for our onward journey. ½ an hour later we jettisoned off head long towards Khao Lak with only a brief stop for a photo before arriving at Cousins Resort 2 hours later - our home for the next couple of nights.

We are all OK - thank you all so much for your messages of support,

See ya
All love CRFS xxxx