Loving Nature

Hello friends and family and other such people,

We are both happy and well and the trip is quite fun and as always there is much to report. Last time we left a post we were on our way to the Laos border.

On the way some things really changed and grew in Livia and my relationship. As the old man of the pair I had managed to stay up past 9:30pm the other night. We have set a rule that we are not allowed to go to sleep until 9:30pm on any night, no matter how tired we were. So at 9:31pm on one night recently i put my book down, grumbled a sleepy good night to Livia and fell asleep. Not long after...perhaps half an hour...Livia wakes me up by saying, "Tim, i think there are some bugs in our bed." And indeed she was correct. We were lucky enough to have not one...but at least 50 ants sharing our bed. Now i have never gone into this bed sharing business before as it really hasn't been my thing. I really would not have guessed Livia would have been into it either. But there we were sharing our bed with the local insect life. Does everyone try this when they travel? Please post something if you have and enjoyed it or not.

I really didn't know what to say to Livia the next day either. Is sharing your bed with strange creatures something to discuss or do i just pretend it didn't happen? Anyhow, the next night it was the same except with not just ants, but at least 10 or so different species of bugs. What a wild time you say! Indeed it was when you wake up in a wild fit with the feeling of 6-8 legs at a time crawling all over your legs and back. The following day i just had to say something to her..."Livia, sharing my bed with the local fauna is not my thing. I am sorry if you came here to do this, but it just isn't for me." She replied that she thought it was me that had invited them to our bed. Oh dear oh dear. What a kafuffle! Needless to say we have tried to make it clear to the local insects that they are no longer welcome to join us in our sleep.

On a more serious note... we are now in Luang Prabang which is the biggest city in northern Laos. There could even be close to 10,000-15,000 people here. Almost as big as Zurich! It is a stunning city and the people of Lao (Laotions? Anna please correct me) are incredibly lovely and smiley. When you walk past their shops and they ask you to come and buy something, it is done in a whisper and i would almost say that they are not even really trying.

To get here too we took the slow boat down the Mekong from the border of Thailand. This is an easy and chilled way to travel. Two days of it was certainly enough, but fortunately for me (Tim) they had much beer to buy....sadly no water though for Livia. We travelled past green forests and mountains...Livia would say they were hills, but she isn't writing this entry today so i will call them mountains...and lots of farms. Our boat was delivering important supplies to the local villages like blue refrigerators. Why blue i don't understand, but not understanding everything is what happens sometimes as a tourist.

We shall chill our here for the next few days eating street food such as Laos sausage and bbq chicken and river fish. I am going to eat the fish tonight and i can't wait. Our next entry could be about salmonella...but you shall have to read to find out.

(you can see the Lao Border and tiny little hut on the other side was the Thai Border)

As a final note we should mention the crap border crossing. We are sure that most border crossings in the world are also crap, but this time we decided to take the 'easy' option and pay everything upfront to get taken across the border. A big mistake! Not only did we get asked on many many occasions for more money we were kept in the dark about almost everything. Livia said she felt like we were going to be sold into slavery in a South East Asian people smuggling and prostitution ring. We are happy to report that this was not the case! And to just to top it off the border crossing was done in the pouring rain which is always helpful when passports etc need to be taken out of one's bag often. Isn't monsoon finished? Ahh nature.

More adventures to be posted soon.

ciao