It’s the day after Valentines Day, Sunday the 15th of February, about 8am in the morning and I am woken with a start by the voice of the girl who was sleeping next to me who’s name I never did find out asking, “Are we there?”

I had no idea, but after 15 hours on the over night bus from Luang Prabang in Laos down to Huay Xai the border town where I first entered the country I really hoped so, and I looked still shaking sleep from my eyes to the seats in front of me where my travel companions sat, unlike most of the westerners on the bus we had an advantage, Pong speaks Thai, and joining him on his trip between Spicylaos and Spicythai in Chiang Mai made this the easiest trip I’ve made.

I still felt a little like sheep in a flock just going with the flow, but this time I feel like at least we have a shepherd who knew what was going on.

I didn’t really notice it was valentines day to be honest, unlike back home where every shop seems to be selling you something seasonally related, out here in the east it’s just another day. Though a few girls in the hostel decided to treat themselves to cheese and wine, an oddity in Asia generally but in Laos a welcome legacy from it’s years as a French colony but for me the 14th had a different meaning, my last day in Laos, by 5:30pm along with two friends we were paced onto the local V.I.P bus and set off on a gruelling journey.

When we first got on the bus I chatted briefly with the Canadian girl next to me, pleased with myself for been able to pick out her nationality more by the phrases she used then by accent alone. But it wasn’t long before the sun was setting and they turned the lights out on the bus, and a lull in the conversation lead to ear phones in and music on. I listened to the new Sigur Ros album which I was happy to have picked up from an Icelandic friend during my time at Spicylaos, but disaster struck when my batteries ran out soon after the album had finished and so my in motion entertainment was cut sadly short.

Two things stand out about the journey, firstly the bus was filled over capacity, and 4 or 5 people were sat on little plastic stools that were placed in the aisles as needed, keep in mind this is a 15 hour sleeper and you’ll see how hard work that must be for the people sitting in them, who ended up slumped in half sleep leaning onto and over the seats either side of them.

The other thing you notice once away from the cities is just how poor the roads are, the route already weaves through the mountains but the bus constantly needed to drove from side to side to avoid pot holes, and in parts the road was all but non-existent. When people back home moan about where all their road tax and the like goes they should be thankful they actually have roads. thinking back to my trip down the Mekong where you pass villages with no road access at all and a picture of just how little development there has been in much of Laos.

Getting back to Thailand I felt much more at home, once again ATMs were with in reach and seven-elven was there to make shopping for the essentials easy. Though a day later with the inital buzz gone I find that I miss the more relaxed pace of Laos.

Overall Laos was an interesting experience for me, I intended to just chill out but actually ended up been busier there then any place previous, thanks to the people I met there

As a traveller one of the most difficult decisions you have to make us when to join new found friends on their route as they move on, or continue on your own path. I backed out of my original purpose of goign tubing, and decided against returning to Chaing mai via the plain of jars and instead stayed an extra couple of days and return straight to Spicythai, a place I think of as home away from home right now. So far I feel like I’ve always made the right choices.