Jill & George's trip: Walking in a winter Won-Thailand!

And so, after 74 days, 36 hotels and guesthouses, 2 boat cabins and 2 night trains, we took two night buses, taking our tally to 5, from Luang Prabang, south via Vientiane and on, across our 3^rd land border and into our 5^th country, Thailand.

With Christmas fast approaching Jill and I needed to get some miles under our belts in order to get to Koh Chang, an island south west of Bangkok, before the fat man headed for our chimney. The first night bus was as winding and bumpy as we expected and we arrived in Vientiane for a short bit of rest before the border crossing into Thailand. Border crossings are always little events in themselves, and this one was no different. After arriving at the bus station and seeing our bus pull up, we were refused entry until all of the locals had made themselves comfortable on board. When we were finally allowed on, with no more seats available, it was standing room only and so we left Laos standing in the aisle of a public bus. We were assured that once across the border we would change bus and all would be fine. There was a familiar chaos that we have begun to recognize and so we were not too stressed by the unfolding events, the same could not be said for the two English lads we were sharing the aisle with who spent the journey dreaming up various worst case scenarios and then convincing themselves that this was the only possible outcome.

The crossing consisted of leaping off the bus which then vanished with all we owned on board, having a man in uniform look with a similar disgust at our passports that you would expect to see from a man inspecting his shoe after skidding in something on a London towpath. He then branded his little stamp with a flourish of bangs and crashes thrust it back at us with a grunt and the universal gesture for ‘I have seen enough, now get out of my sight!’ But we were soon over the border and as promised on a bus with our very own seat. And so with the formality out of the way we pulled off into the warm clear night with Angelina Jolie dubbed into Thai on the TV.

We arrived in Bangkok with the dark of night still present and just a hint of dawn, after a short haggle with various taxi drivers we were off into the Bangkok streets with billboards and 7 elevens flashing past, huge buildings with big brand logos glowing from them. We were in a new place and it felt very different to the previous cities of our trip. As the sun rose above the streets we could see the wealth and impact of ‘the west’. We spent that first day finding our feet in the city, walking the streets and getting our bearings. It’s a city that, like all cities, has many faces and we are only able to see a small number of them on our short stay here. We saw Wats and monks, cross dressers and revellers, homeless and rich, and this was all in the space of a few blocks. And of course we saw the many images of the King, on every street is a photo of the King, and with every Thai flag is a yellow royal flag to stand beside it. They love the king like the Vietnamese love Uncle Ho, the Cambodians love Angkor, the Sri Lankans love cricket and the people of Laos love sleeping in the back of tuk tuks.

After a short introduction to Bangkok we were on a bus for Koh Chang, and a ferry and tuk tuk ride brought us to our Christmas retreat. We were staying at the furthest southerly point on the west side of the island, away from the busier resorts and beaches and with only turquoise sea, white sand, a handful of beach bars and restaurants to occupy us we were forced to sit back and relax. We spent the days leading up to Christmas doing very little and it was great.

Our Christmas day was really relaxing. We exchanged presents, bought in Luang Prabang on a 50,000 kip (£4.50) budget, swam in the sea, read our books, had lunch on the beach with sand between our toes and the sound of waves gently lapping at the shore. We Skyped parents while sipping cold Singha beers and heard the stories of snow in the streets and a beautiful white Christmas morning. Then we headed for Buddha View where we enjoyed our Christmas meal overlooking the ocean. In fact the restaurant sat over the ocean, with glass tables and holes in the floor that you dangled your feet through over the water below. The food and wine were great and although it wasn’t turkey, it did the job just fine. It was an unusual Christmas but an amazing one.

The next couple of days on Koh Chang were similar to the first, swimming, eating, sunbathing and eating some more. But after 5 days and far too soon it was time to bid farewell to the corner of Koh Chang we had grown to know well and head back to Bangkok.