At last I can access the blog. I am in Luang Nam Tha which is about 70 kms into Laos (or I should write Lao as that is what everone calls it). It is town of 350,000 people but I do't know where they are all hiding! The journey from Jinghong was through some pretty spectacular countryside. Leaving China, it took quite a while to check my passport and I was getting quite worried but it seems there was a problem with the scanning machine and they finally let me go!
This keyboard is worse than the one which kept lapsing into Chinese!!! It keeps missing letters and spaces and I have to go back to fill them in.
The Lao border was bit of a nightmare and they demanded $37 although it was posted as $35.
The bus driver asked if I wanted dropping at the bus station or in town. I said as I had no Lao kip it had better be the town. Luckily for me, he stopped outside Manychan Guest House where I wanted to stay. I paid on my Mastercard for three nights at $8 each night and changed 100 yuan into kip so could buy a meal. I have a huge bed with a comfortable mattress topper on it - sheer bliss after the hard Chinese beds! The cicadas were chirping all night and the cockerels started at 6am!
This morning I spotted an ATM across the road and it actually gave me money on my cash card. I couldn't access my account in China but managed it in the back of beyond!! I was only allowed o withdraw 700,000 kip which is about 50 pounds (no pound sign on the keyboard).
This place is so laid back it is nearly horizontal. I hope the rest of Laos is so easygoing!
I'm going for a wander round the town and will try to find out the price of a ticket to Luang Prabang. There are many rice paddiesaround and an Australian man said I should rent a motorbike a go round them. We will see!
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