sawng farang!!!!

After leaving the border having seen Laos accross the Mekong for a couple of days from the Thai side we were wondering how different could it really be to Northern Thailand. Well, very is the answer. The first 100ks along….. no cement, no concrete, no shops, no food stalls, no electricity, no gas, broken roads, bamboo and thatch houses, every kid in the village coming running, sceaming, pointing and shouting Sabaideeeeeeeee at the top of their voices. Workers running to the edge of the field to check us out. A man woke up his wife who was asleep in the back of a truck just to point us out. We aren’t sure if its the reflective helmets, the shiny bikes, the white skin or the combination of it all that makes it such a spectacle. It was more of a culture shock than arriving in Bangkok! Now it all seems so familiar.
We stopped for a few days not far into Laos to go for a 3 day hike in the Luam Nam Tha National Park where we were promised jungles, bears, gibbons and even tigers were mentioned but in the end it turned out to be more about eating sticky rice and wandering through bamboo thickets.
Now we now are in UdomXai stocking up on snacks, washing clothes and phoning Mums. Off in the morning again for what seems like a long day to Muang Kiew…120km but looks nice!