Planning: Bangkok to Vientiane

The first leg should be pretty easy (he says). The best information for this trip, as well as all the train journeys I have taken in recent years is http://www.seat61.com. More about these fine people in a later post.

From Hua Lumphong Station (the site of many a memorable Family Fieldtrip) there is an overnight sleeper train that gets into Nong Kai on the Thai/Laos border at 8:25am. At 9:30am you take the 15 minute ride over the Friendship bridge to Tanaleng International station for visas and passport control.

It's then a 13k hop on a tuk tuk taxi or bus to Vientiane and some baguettes and coffee!

Sounds easy and costs 1,200 baht (26GBP or $37)

Planning

Thailand to London: the long way...

Okay, last week we decided to bite the bullet and put down a deposit for our train ticket for the Trans Mongolian express. This then meant I had to research a way of getting to Beijing for the start of the trip.

We could either go a) from Bangkok through Cambodia (via Siem Reap and Phnom Penh) and then through Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi. From Hanoi there is a twice weekly departure to Beijing. The other option b) is to go from Bangkok to Vientiane in Laos and then overland through Laos to get to Hanoi.

Option A
pros: a well used route with lots of different ways of doing it.
cons: it means going south to eventually head north which seems counter intuitive (even for someone like myself, with no sense of direction...)

Option B
pros: It is the most direct route and means we can catch the overnight train to the Laos border.
Cons: There are not much in the way of roads and the bus route through Laos is called 'the bus ride from hell'. And it will be rainy season.

Option A looks like the best bet, however I was told that Option B was "impossible" and not very sensible as there are no roads in Laos and it will be too rainy...This made me stubbornly look at it as a challenge. Option B it is then!

The Next Big Trip

After eight years of life in Thailand we are heading back to the UK.

We could just hop on a plane and eleven hours later start our new life in Dear Old Blighty. In fact, we really, as there is so much to sort out.

However, being a little perverse and not really wanting to give my family an easy option, we decided that we would make our way from Bangkok to the UK overland and by sea. Now, quite a few people we know have done this, but all have added a little flight here and there to the mix. I declare this illegal.

I could live to regret this decision...