Lucy
We crossed a river as we entered Laos and went to an island. One of the first things we saw was some beautiful kittens, the island was full of lovely cats and puppies. As we walked around the islands we saw pigs, cows, chickens, goats and water buffaloes. We walked through miles of rice paddies, where the rice was about to be harvested.
Before we met my Auntie Clare, we met a motorbiker who was travelling around the world, his name was Bob. When we saw my Auntie, we were so overjoyed. We went to the Night Market together in Luang Prabang, where we bought early Christmas presents. Once when we got up super early in the morning, it turned out there was a festival happening right next door, it was related to the full moon. We watched as all the monks put their bowls in a line on a table, while all the rest of the people put food in the bowls, an equal amount for each monk. There were other things that the monks might need, one lady brought some tissues, monks gets colds too.
When we left Luang Prabang, we went to a museum that told us about bombs. Many people had died when the bombs dropped. These bombs were designed to blow up as soon as they hit the ground but many didn't go off straight away and still haven't gone YET. The bombs were dropped a long time ago, before mummy was born. They are still scattered all over the country, usually under the ground. They still go off when when a farmer touches it with his hoe, when children find them and play with them or when a cooking fire is lit above it. The bombs have lots of scrap metal in them, so people go out to collect them to get money because they are very poor. This is very dangerous. Thankfully the Lao people are working hard to get them and make them safe.
Alisha
I liked Laos, it was a good country. I think my farvourite bit was seeing Auntie Clare in Luang Prabang {I think that's how you spell it I might be wrong the computer certainly thinks so}
We started Laos off on an island in the middle off the Mekong. I enjoyed the many chicks, puppies and kittens running around the island.
We spent one night on the Bolaven Plateau, which I loved as it dropped to about 12 degrees. We also had Halloween there, which I also enjoyed as it meant we could dress up and get lots of sweets. Daddy was very silly on the third time we went round the truck he kept offering us vegetables instead of sweets, it was very funny.
I liked going to the Buddha park in just outside Vientiane {which I called the ATM for a bit {don't ask me why} it was because I heard mummy and daddy talking about it through my head phone. It had a giant pumpkin in it for some weird reason {maybe it was a giant Halloween decoration that they had forgotten to take down or maybe Buddha's farvourite food was pumpkins or maybe) it had three levels to represent heaven, earth and hell there was a bit in the middle that I think was supposed to be nirvana but the only way to access it was by climbing through a devils head at the top but Lucy didn't want to so I stayed with her. The door was also a devil's head you had to climb in through its mouth.
In Luang Probing we went shopping in the night market where we bought Christmas presents Auntie Clare gave us some early presents, which was great.
Then we went over some perilous roads. Once we where behind an overloaded truck that seemed to be holding long-dead animals {or so it smelled like}.
We did a 16 km hike!!!!!!!! But daddy bought lots of sweets so that wasn't too bad.
Next we cross into Thailand the spicy food country.
I liked Laos it was a good country
Gilly
My enduring image of Laos will be a crowd of girls streaming out of school in their smart black Sinhs (straight skirts with a white stripe at the bottom) and white shirts under pink tartan umbrellas. It's a scene we have seen repeated all over the country as we have travelled from the south to the north. There are usually two school sessions:morning and afternoon and the children travel by bike, motorbike or foot. It's a treacherous time to be driving as they stream out on-mass laughing, joshing and chattering - not paying attention to the road! In such an economically challenged country it's wonderful to see so many children, including high schoolers, in education. There seemed to me more girls than boys, which may just be my perception, but it is a promising observation about the education of girls in Laos.
Laos is still a communist country and the hammer and sickle is seen proudly flying everywhere alongside the national flag. It seemed very strange for us, I thought the flag had been done away with. In all those years we lived in Russia we only saw glimpses of it in older unrenovated buildings but in Laos it is everywhere. Like its neighbours Vietnam and China, Laos is economically definitely capitalist but to a far less aggressive degree. The Laos seem far less consumerist driven than their neighbours. Our guidebook has a quote from the French colonial times "The Vietnamese plant the rice, the Cambodians tend the rice and the Lao listen to it grow". I think there is a lot of balance in Lao between work, family and religion. It would drive me crazy to do business there but it makes it a lovely place to visit.
My favourite slogan and tastiest beer from Asia: Beerlaos - Beer of the Whole Hearted People.
I think Laos might be my favourite country in South-East Asia. It might not have the top sites like Cambodia's Angkor Wat or Thailand's beaches, but it does have bags of character; the huge snaking Mekong River; beautiful mountainous scenery; and friendly, relaxed people. Definitely a winning combination for me.
Steve
Laos was a great country to wind down in. It's peaceful and relaxed. Everything is unhurried and even the driving is more mellow. Sometimes things seem so laid back that it's almost horizontal. Saying that I really enjoyed Laos. It is definitely one of the poorest countries in South East Asia but also one with a wealth of natural beauty.
The people were generally very friendly although occasionally they seemed a little suspicious of us. As we are now in the dry season we could enjoy the lush beauty of the forests and jungles as well as the waterfalls and hills.
We travelled the length of the country and one of the most common sights was of the rice paddies along the way still been tilled by water bullocks and rice been harvested by hand. Whilst there are plenty of sights to see I think my overriding memory will be just how peaceful it was. We noticed the difference both in terms of development and speed of things as soon as we crossed the border into Thailand.
Lucy
We went to loads of Wats in Thailand. They are very beautiful with big Buddhas, you have to take your shoes off when you enter because it is respectful. You are not allowed to point your feet at the Buddhas because it is very rude as feet are dirty, so you have to sit in a mermaid position so you are sitting on your legs but your feet are facing backwards.
We stayed on the beach, where there lots of old spirit houses. I played on the beach and made special bathing place for the spirits to enjoy.
We travelled through Thailand having great fun. We met Daddy's friend Brian in Bangkok and his lovely girlfriend Kae, and we sent a weekend with them. Kae was very nice, lots of fun and she kept on buying us tasty treats from the market. The thing I most liked was the frozen fizzy drinks on sticks, I had coca-cola. The black grass jelly wasn't so good, it tasted like nothing. We also fed some monster fish with her, they had gotten so fat with all the bread. We also went out for 2 delicious dinners. The first place had amazing puddings, one had cream, coconut, cake and ice cream in it. The lady had a flat disk with a bowl on it, loads of smoke was coming out. Then she dropped it on the table, we thought it was a broken plate but it was a frozen bowl of chocolate. Yummy!
We left Thailand to go to Cambodia and Laos. Then we came back and went to Chiang Rai then Chiang Mai, it's funny to name 2 cities close together with almost the same name. In Chiang Mai we went to the 3-D museum where there were amazing paintings, that made you look like you were doing unreal things. We were chased by a massive kitten and my favourite was when we were flying on the magic carpet but actually we were just lying on the painted floor.
We went up into the mountains where there were loads of huge moths in the toilets. There was a big hill we were playing on, when Mummy went in with the camera Alisha shouted "You can't take pictures of moths on the toilet." I laughed and laughed. Going down the mountain was worse than going up because it was steeper. One day on a twisty mountain road there was a truck stuck right in the middle of the road, he had run out fuel and blocked the whole road. The driver used our jerry can to refill it, Alisha and I didn't mind waiting as Mummy made us a picnic lunch to eat in the cab.
Alisha
There was a lots of Wats pretty much all over Thailand and they are very beautiful. But in my opinion there is nothing worse then being dragged round Wats until your head hurts and your feet feel like they're going to fall off the next time you take your shoes off to go into another Wat.
When we returned to Thailand the King had died, although the official 30 days of mourning where over most people were still in mourning and there was big black signs all over the place showing the King with some Thai writing. In the cinema we all had to stand for a slideshow all about the King but they hadn't updated it as at the end it said long live the King. When we went to see another movie it showed the millions of people outside the palace after his death singing the national anthem. Most people where wearing ordinary black clothes with a piece of black ribbon on a safety pin. The national anthem was played while we where at the Saturday market everybody stood still.
I liked going to Bangkok where we met Daddy's friend Brian and his girlfriend Kae. I think Lucy has written about them. I'd say my favourite bit of Thailand was when we spent a couple days up in the mountains it was really cold we went climbing up on a small hill. We found some dried flowers wrapped in a dead leaf with some old insense up there. There was a lot of moths in the bathroom we found a dead one on the road and buried it up on the hill with one of the old sticks of insense. When we got down from the mountains we went to a park with lots of old ruins. We got our scooters and scooted around it was fun except when we went inside the ruins then we had to carry the scooters. Admission to the park was free because of the death of the King.
Gilly
Our memories of Thailand from previous visits were lovely beaches, excellent food, fascinating culture and smiling welcoming faces. It is well renowned world-wide as an excellent place to travel, welcoming all types of visitors. Just why then, a month before we had hoped to go there, did they effectively close their borders to overland travel? Only those people already driving through neighbouring countries or so determined so they could continue their route would bother to go through the rigmarole to go through the process of getting a permit to go through. Luckily for us, as well as being incredibly well organised, Steve is very stubborn. He was determined to move hell, high-water or the DLT (Department of Land Transport) to get us in. We had to get 3 different special dispensations to get the truck in; umpteen forms; super expensive letter from the home office (so special it even came with its own ribbons and a wax seal); a travel agent; and lots of pacing up and down for over a month to get us in. Even better than that, he managed to get us a second permit at the same time so we could go to Cambodia and Laos as well before crossing Northern Thailand to get to Myanmar. Since we got our permits we've heard that they have completely stopped motorhomes from coming in, many people need to get a Thai licence and it sounds like every foreign vehicle will need to be escorted by a travel agent through the country. What is most upsetting is that this is the same country where you can hire a car easily with no extra checks and we even heard a guesthouse owner telling a backpacker that there was no problem hiring a motorbike if he didn't have the licence or even if he had never ridden a bike before. Surely a biker bringing their own bike, or a driver with their motorhome, having driven it across multiple countries is far safer than someone who have never ridden a bike before going out on the roads. Maddening!
Having had my rant above, once in we absolutely loved the country. Having traversed from south to north; from coast to coast; and city to countryside we have seen a lot. Some of my personal highlights have been the amazing Buddhist Wats we have been to; the beach at Railey; eating out in Bangkok, in fact Thai food throughout the country; the beautiful cool mountains north-west of Chiang Mai and the friendly Thai people.
Returning a second time, after our trip to Cambodia and Laos, was a bit like entering a different country. While we were in Cambodia the much loved King had died, leaving a country in deep mourning. We arrived after the official 30 days of morning had elapsed but still the majority of people were still wearing black and black beribboned portraits with books of condolences everywhere we went. We were really amazed when in the crazy busy night market in Chiang Mai that the whole street came to an absolute standstill when the national anthem was played over the loudspeakers.
Steve
With all the difficulties getting a permit under the new rules to drive our truck in Thailand we were just relieved to get in on both our visits. To be honest though we also felt extremely lucky not just because of all the lovely things that Thailand has to offer but because the rules regarding the permits are been tightened such that vehicles like ours are unlikely to be granted a permit in future and for other vehicles they will need a guide. Such a shame and one that makes no sense as Thailand is a wonderful country with lots to offer.
Having now visited a number of other South East Asian countries we can see that Thailand is much more developed than most of its neighbours and much more set up for tourism. However it's possible to get off the tourist path and to explore little visited parts.
There is a lot to see but just as importantly there is a lot to eat. The food is fantastic as well as varied and of course if you want it, very spicy. It was great to have Brian visit us in Bangkok and introduce us to his girlfriend Kae as she was able to introduce us to a whole different side of Thai food. We had a wonderful gastronomic weekend with them where we traversed the wide spectrum of eating from local markets to fine dining.
We managed to explore the whole country from some wonderful beaches in the South through the cultural heartland visiting the ancient cities of Ayuthaya and Sukhothai and up to the mountains of the North. Along the way we visited countless temples from the rather bizarre White Temple in Chiang Rai to the magnificent Grand Palace in Bangkok. Everywhere we were greeted with the smiles of the friendly relaxed people.
It was also great to catch up with some former work colleagues and see life in Thailand through their eyes. After living in the truck it was lovely of Keith and Victoria to put us up in their lovely house and show us around Phuket Island.
Thailand is a wonderful country to visit and also a key country in terms of access to other South East Asian countries by vehicle. It seems a shame that as other countries in the region slowly open up that Thailand is effectively shutting itself down to overlanders. 
