thailand 1

hello!

made it into thailand with shocking ease. the border crossing was our best yet and took the shortest time of all the crossings so far.
we were massively shocked as the staff were extremely friendly and helpful and we had previously been told that it would be an absolute nightmare to get in.

have had many adventures since entering thailand and have been pleasently suprised by the fun we have had.
met a lovely 70 year old enlish man yesterday in tesco, that's right- tesco, who told us where the long life milk was and where we could find an invertor for our car (after daddy broke it). he took us back to his house for a cup of english tea and we left him with an address for his son in phuket, who sails, and the promise that he could construct any control systems we wanted.
daddy also gave him some rather intersting advise that we had not heard 100 times before on filtration.

last night, as it was getting dark we manged to stumble accross a couple of people who new a guesthouse owner where we managed to stay. it was in a little village get off the main road with a balcony, breakfast area, garden and it was brand new.

getting closer to the capital but, as we decided to take an extra day to get there, we stopped in the town we are in now at 10:30 and so are spending our time exploring the city and and looking for a cinema.
we all want to watch the new james bond film very much so if anyone could tell us if it is good this would be most appreciated in the absence of a cinema.




the last mongolia photograph, promise. we all wanted you to see the 'russian sparkling wine' shot during extreme dinning.



fond farewell to queenie. we are at the border at that moment; it also shows just how relaxed the border is.

typical petrol station for motorbikes in the lao countryside. we thought it was a special drink at first.

welcome to lao! we were really on the ball at that border.

one of the best activities in laos. daddy and tessie were really into it. making rice wine. we also took a photograph of the instructions for when we get home.

vising the caves on the mekong near luang prabang. i am in the picture to illustrate the size of the caves. yes, i did just want to be in a photograph.

the man wealding the tow bar on larry. he is only wearing sunglasses.

daddy using the irish screwdriver to help fix larry's tow bar.

one photograph of the numerous butterflies we have seen since southern china. this one was ginormous and was sitting amoung his friends at a toll gate in laos.

pretty much the only temple we went to in laos. we did not even go in it, it was just just at the side of the road. we are not a fan on temples but there is plenty of choice.

really cool merchant on a bike. he saluted us. we did not get that photograph.

the merchant's wares. the laos equivilant of the man with the long trench coat.

rival slow boat on the mekong, visiting the caves. he won.

wood camp group photograph. we climbed to the top of the hill in the middle of the touristy luang prabang to see the sun set (as the lonely planet guide told us to). the sunset is slightly to our right.

maggots in loas. would higly recommend.

daddy requested the photograph of his boy using chopsticks to eat maggots. it would be more impressive if lewis knew what maggots were.

making paper in a laos village. this is one of 50 similar photographs.

a man making tradional hats for the village.

snooker tables are everywhere in asia. not many are used for chicken's beds.

one of our many unsucessful attempts to to capture a lao village. if you expand the photograph you can see a woman washing in the village shower.


a corn mill actualy being used. the lady has a baby and dog. to the right of the picture are the rest of the village watching her. the laos people are highly relaxed.

we managed to take some covert military photographs despite queenie's efforts.

this was the view that i enjoyed in laos while going to, what we like to call, an 'open-air' toilet.
amazing waterfalls near luang prabang. the brave ones of us swam in it.
the main bit of the waterfall. we walked up the muddy side of it in flip flops. was an amzing sight especially as there had been lots of rainfall.

hopefully hitting the capital tomorrow.