You know? “Top and tail?”

I’ve been on a few night buses now in Asia, but Laos is the first time where the night bus involved sharing a bed with a stranger.

Yes, you read that correctly.

At first the nice gentleman who came to share the little pod with me asked if I minded and I spent the next few minutes trying to charade “top and tail” to no success. Although, it was to Niamh’s enjoyment (her head peering over the pod giggling at me.)

Clearly he felt uncomfortable, (the jury is out on whether or not he thought I was propositioning him with my hand gestures) as he disappeared and then reappeared a moment later with a Lao woman. The 3 of us shared that pod for a good 45 minutes.

In the end, he left and she eventually understood “top and tail” (I gave up on the hand gestures, you’ll be glad to hear) and we slept the 12 hours to Pakse.

The next logical thing to do is to hire a scooter and explore the local area. This included some ruins and 550 steps to see the view. I can confirm I am still unfit.

I can also confirm you never really get sick of seeing water falls. Especially if they feature rainbows and cute af monks.

All of this has been incredibly exhausting, so I’m off to the 4000 islands to lie in a hammock for a few days.

Nicolle out.