Night Thailand/Day Laos

The beds were made by 9pm on the Bangkok to Nong Khai sleeper and the first of several problems became apparent. The first was that we were booked into a 1^st Class sleeper and this train was a 2^nd Class sleeper, it didn't bother us, but several tourists on the train were grumbling and moaning. I was more concerned about Harry breaking his neck as he clambered up the bunk bed ladders like a Napoleonic era powder monkey on board a ship. This sleeper was very similar to the one we'd been on a couple of years ago down to Malaysia and was very servicable and clean.

Our second problem was that we'd discovered we didn't seem to have a ticket for the Moscow to Cologne leg of our trip. It had never arrived with a whole bunch of other European tickets and we couldn't even remember who we'd booked it with...Oh well, a little side project we would have to work on! The third problem was that I couldn't remember the name of the hotel in Vientiane that we were staying in.

Anyway, we settled down to a night on the train, Marcelle snuggled up on a lower bunk with Maisie and Harry with me. We all watched night time Bangkok melt into the suburbs and then dissolve into lightless countryside and forest. Harry didn't really want to sleep and fiddled with lights and shelves and curtains whilst I studiously ignored him. Even when he did, mercifully, fall unconscious, he flailed and spun around. The train's clickety-clack was very restful but it wasn't easy falling asleep.

We woke up a couple of hours before we got into Nong Khai and watched the red clay and emerald paddy fields unfold by the window. After an hour's wait for our driver (apparently the border was unusually busy) we drove to the Thai customs and immigration for the last time for a long time. It was easy to pass over the 'Friendship Bridge' into Laos and twenty minutes later we were at our hotel. Vientiane is small, sleepy and dusty. It feels like a Bank Holiday Monday, even though it is the Saturday after pay day. We wander round but find little more than a few cafes and empty shops.