Millionaires

The owner of the guest house cooks us breakfast with banana in the morning. It's 7AM and I am very tired from the previous night. We all then set off and get in a small boat to get across the Mekong river and go through border control. The border control is just a kiosk and they don't check your bags. I could literally have a pack full of guns and heroin, it wouldn't have mattered. On the entry forms Rachelle writes that her occupation is Louis Theroux's PA and I write that I am a Space Explorer - they don't know how to read English. No problems occur. It costs $36 each for a visa. They charge us $1 more for entering on a weekend, because Laos people don't like working weekends. I buy a baguette from a local vendor for the journey. Baguettes are a common Laos food because they were colonised by the French. We hear that Luang Prabang, the old capital, is very good for breads and cakes due to the french passing on their baking know-how.

We all get into an official Stray Bus. It's bright orange and has a capacity for 20 people, but there are only 5 Stray travelers, Tony the guide and two Laos Stray employees. On of them is the driver who calls himself Mr. Spicy and smiles a lot. He doesn't know English. The other guy is called Pi. Pi can speak English, technically, but he may as well not because I can't make out anything he says. Pi is a little annoying- he plays guitar and sings (badly) and makes us do a stupid quiz that I don't know any of the answers to. 

I sleep on Rachelle most of the way and we arrive at the hotel in Luang Namtha. It's very northern Laos, close to the China border. After dropping off our things we all get on the bus and travel to a nearby village where there is a short trek to a waterfall. We look around the village, but discover that the waterfall has dried up due to the time of year so we don't bother paying the 2,000 Kip to see some dry rocks. Kip is the Laos currency and 2,000 Kip is 20p. We are millionaires in this country.

Back at the hotel we had showers and then went for food.Rachelle and I decided to try and find a more typical Laos place. We found one. It smelt funny and we ordered Omelettes. They were greasy. Afterwards we explored the night market, which serves food neither of us can identify except the chicken feet - chicken feet is a delicacy in Laos. Despite all the yucky stuff, we're still a bit hungry. However, this time we opt for a nicer looking restaurant and order garlic bread and fries; the most western food we've ordered since getting to Southeast Asia. Back at the hotel we use the internet and get a much needed early night.