Stopping at the border to Laos, I am hoping to post some of my cold weather gear home so that I don’t have to carry it around for the rest of the journey. I ask Kevin where a post office is, but by this stage Kevin is not being particularly helpful and just points me down the road. I don’t find it and am feeling quite testy when I get back to the border control still carrying my package.
It turns out the exit from China has gone surprisingly smoothly, with the exception of my absence holding up the queue as we have to go through the control in the order our names are on the group Chinese visa. By now though, I am already feeling a tad peeved and in no mood to take any whinging from anybody. This doesn’t stop Tracy having a go anyway, my response to which leads to her exclaiming ‘don’t talk to me like that’. I tell her not to speak to me at all.
Anyway, we get through the Chinese side much quicker than we are generally used to at exit, although the entry to Laos takes somewhat longer as the truck has to be checked for contraband or whatever it is they think they might find.
At the border, John & Tracy, Pete & Pam and Gaz & Rhiannon separate from us. They have chosen to go to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay in Vietnam as these destinations are not on our itinerary. This means the truck is a bit less crowded and more comfortable for the rest of us.
Into Laos, we are driving on a contoured road through jungle with villages made up of bamboo huts on stilts. We are back in waving country as startled locals great us as we drive by.
When we stop for some food, Laurie takes her ardent localism a bit far.....
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| Rat Shish Kebab anyone? |
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| hmmm, not too sure either... |
Tonight is another bush camp. We have found a compound built specifically for Chinese migrant workers building new roads. They kindly let us camp on the square of the compound. I am on cook group, but it rains and it’s muddy experience. Thankfully the square is also a basketball court, so at least I don’t have to camp on mud.
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