So we have finally begun to write about our trip to Laos! The day after Christmas, we all boarded a plane...the 6 of us and mom and dad and we headed to Thailand. It was a little too pricey to fly all of us directly to Laos, so we had the brilliant idea to fly to Bangkok, which is pretty cheap, then take an overnight train to the Thai/Laos border and then travel to Vientiane by bus or taxi or whatever. So this is what we did. We arrived in Bangkok and made our way to the train station. I had already purchased our tickets on-line but we had no idea
what we were getting so we were a little nervous to
see exactly what we would be spending the night on. Did we have a bed? Just a seat? We had no clue. So we went to eat at a mall like thing that was close by. The girls were thrilled because for the first time in 4 months they got to eat McDonalds!
After our McDonald's adventure we headed back to the train station to wait. While waiting we decided to go ahead and buy our return train tickets, this time getting first class. They only let you buy these tickets at the train station. You can buy 2nd class on-line so that's what we had done, but as we weren't confident in what we were purchasing we had decided to wait to buy the return ticket so we could ensure the 1st class. Boy what a mistake! As it was a holiday weekend, everyone in Thailand decided to travel, so there were no seats on the return train. This made us effectively stuck in Laos! Thankfully Dad came through and we went to a travel agent (in the train station) and purchased airline tickets back to Thailand. Dad really didn't mind as he wasn't overly keen on sitting on a bumpy train for 12 hours anyway. We had decided to take the train originally because I didn't feel like Lao Airlines was particularly safe, but in light of the fact that we didn't have a return train ticket, and the option was to drive, we opted to risk life and limb and fly on Lao Airlines. I suggested that we take two different flights so that Amy wouldn't lose her entire family in one fell swoop but Dad was confident that we would make it. Obviously he was right!
So, the train ride to the Laos border (I should say now that you do NOT pronounce the "s" in Laos...it sounds like Low, rhymes with now) was quite the adventure. We boarded the train at around 6:30 pm and ate our dinner and just talked for a bit. The train guy then came by and began making everyone's beds.
Phoebe playing her game on her bed
Emma and Grandma on the train
So the train guy pulled the seats together to make a bed, then for privacy you pulled the blue curtains closed. Each adult slept with one kid.
The girls loved being on the top bunk!
The train ride was a lot of fun. We didn't really get a lot of sleep and most of the time the train was rocking so bad back and forth you felt like it was really going to come off the tracks. Shawn said at one point he held onto his stomach it was jiggling so bad! The girls did great though and we found it to be a great way to travel!
After arriving at the train station we took two tuk tuks to the Thai/Laos border. We had decided to just get our visa's here which turned out to be a good decision. The people who already had their visas had to wait in the long line at passport control, but because we bought our visa there we just had it stamped behind the counter and someone walked us through to where we had to then get on a bus to take us across the border. It could have also been because we had the 4 kids that it went fairly smoothly. We did shamelessly use the kids to further our endeavors throughout the trip.
As anyone who has ever traveled in Asia knows, there is no such thing as a line. You do not wait in line anywhere. You simply push your way to the front if you want to do something. Being nice and polite gets you nowhere. So, when trying to get onto this bus to drive us across the border we had a strategic plan. Shawn and Dad were going to get the luggage under the bus, then mom and I with all of the kids were going to muscle our way to get seats. I have to say mom and I did great. I did have to physically hold back an 80 year old woman from stepping all over Phoebe, but I was bigger and she was frail (but feisty) and so I managed to hold my arms out and block her and all who dared to get on the bus. Even the geriatrics held no sway over me! After safely seeing my children on the bus I did turn around and hoist granny up the stairs which had to redeem me in some small way. It was then up to Dad and Shawn to actually make it on the bus. We did have to fight to save them seats though. Alas, everyone made it on and away we went.
We made it to Laos! We took a car, plane, taxi, tuk tuk, train, tuk tuk, bus, van, but then we were there. We finally made it to our wonderful hotel the Day Inn. Not Days I might add, but Day Inn. Maybe they forgot the S.
I have decided to post our Laos trip in installments. It is the one thing I do not like about this site. I spend forever downloading the stupid pictures, then if I lose a connection and haven't actually put the photos in the body of the blog I lose them. In fact, I just lost about 30 pictures I had downloaded. So, I will post in installments so as not to lose anything.
Phoebe playing her game on her bed 
The girls loved being on the top bunk!
