Hello Laos

So the original plan was to catch the 8am bus through to Chiang Khong but we suddenly realised that we'd forgotten to collect our laundry so travel plans were adapted accordingly. After a quick scrag and play with the 'real' boss at Nonni guesthouse

we jumped in a minibus and headed out to Chiang Rae complete with a stop at the White Temple.  I'm sure Matt thinks I deliberately forgot about the laundry to ensure the White Temple wasn't missed from the agenda! When I first saw a promo of the temple the first thought was Daisy's favourite movie Frozen, the second thought was we had to get a photo for Daisy.  The temple is really one of the bizarrest things I've seen so far, the outside twinkling like icicles in the sun whilst the inside is painted in ornate religious morales with Superman and minions interspersed...yes I kid you not and I haven't had a Singha too many.  Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take a photo of the interior but here's some shots of the palace, checkout all the ghoulish and writhing bodies coming up from the ground.

So after the 20 minute stop for white madness we headed off for Chiang Khong and the border crossing.  Two hours later, incorporating many forms, bus rides and passport inspections, we were finally Laos side and in a tuk tuk heading for Huay Xai Main Street to find a bed for the night.  

Once a bed was secured we grabbed a quick meal and then went for a wander up the main road.  There were two convenience stores side by side and as we walked up to the first one the second stuck out a sign saying "we have everything you need". Giving 10 out of 10 for initiative we went to the second, and what a character she turned out to be, within 5 minutes Matt was buying a bottle of wine (apparently loved by all and why not given the label), cheese and salad baguettes to pick up in the morning for the trip next day and I pushed out the boat with a bag of crisps.  It all happened so quickly, she was a true master of her trade...con-woman.  The wine was like off Sherry Vinegar and as we were to discover on the boat the next day that if cheese had ever touched those baguettes it was whilst she put it in someone else's!

We decided to call it a night and It was only when some Laos musicians piped up that I said to Matt, "is the window open as it sounds like they're in the room with us?", his response was "well I didn't want to worry you but we don't have a window". Drawing back the curtains revealed yet another use for 'BeerLao' merchandise...took me a while to get to sleep as I was cackling so much :)