Tomorrow we set off across the border into Laos and the unknown. Thailand has been very good to us and it has been a memorable four weeks. I have been compiling a list of recommendations for the impending hordes that will want to follow in my footsteps and it is looking very healthy.

When we return to Thailand we have to,

-Come back to Chiang Mai
-Complete hill tribe trek with Elephant ride
-Not drink so much

Laos promises to be exciting. Let me borrow an excellent synopsis from the tremendous resource that is travelfish.

Landlocked Laos is one of the Asia’s most enchanting destinations. Stunning natural beauty — think mist-shrouded mountain peaks flanked by jungle-clad valleys teeming with wildlife — combine with a fascinating Buddhist culture to make Laos a superb destination for backpackers and independent travellers, while luxury tourists are now also well-catered for.

Our first three days are catered for traveling by slow boat down the Mekong. This promises to be an experience and if we don’t run aground, sink, run into drug runners or drunk Englishmen we should be OK.

Cooking class was a lot of fun! Who would have thought? We had a very good teacher with an incredibly infectious cackle. Nobody died and I was smiling the whole time apart from this photo.

Factoid for the day. We have jettisoned 10 kilograms of non essential items back to New Zealand since we started traveling.