What a smooth trip home it was thank goodness. I got dropped off at the border which is about a 20 minute drive from downtown Vientiane. Checked out of Laos no problems and found the driver that I had negotiated with the day before to take me all the way home.
I was a bit nervous about having all my wood samples scrutinised at the Thai border but I needn’t have worried. I didn’t even have to get out of the car! The driver took my passport and got it stamped for me and then we just drove on through! It was nice to be back on the ‘right’ hand side of the road again. Even after two weeks in Laos I still hadn’t become used to being on the wrong (right) side of the road. Thank fully after having spent so much time in Asia it has become second nature to check both ways before stepping out onto a road as there is always someone on the wrong side. This practise saved me a few times in Laos. I did manage late one night after finishing work and riding the motorbike back to the hotel to ride on the wrong side of the road for 3 kms and only become aware of it when an oncoming motorbike tooted me. Thank fully it was late and traffic was light.
So by 9am we were on the road. We had one stop for petrol and one stop for lunch and I was home by 5.15pm.
Ariya was a bit shocked but very happy to see me while Marisah gave me the cold shoulder and looked straight past me for about 20 seconds before she couldn’t handle it anymore and jumped into my arms and didn’t let me put her down for over an hour.
They both looked very skinny due to their illness and when I picked them up I could really tell the difference. Marisah seemed to be on the mend but Ariya projectile vomited over me twice about 2 hours later.
Today it seems they are both on the mend, still very lethargic and it is still running out of the bottom end but just not as much as before and thank fully no one has vomited yet (it is still only 1pm though!) There is one thing that is worrying me and that’s a very deep and chesty could that Marisah started developing about 5 days ago. Any ideas anyone?
On the way home Seerung called me to find out exactly when I was arriving because a relative of ours needed to get to Det Udon urgently. It seems his daughter (Seerungs cousin) who lives next door to Mam had gone into labour and given birth to a girl but suffered massive bleeding. They rushed her to the bigger hospital and even had to use the paddles to get her heart going again. As I was still 2 hours away he managed to find another way to get there and word this morning is that she too might me okay. Health wise there is never a dull moment around this place that’s for sure! Speaking of health mine pails into insignificance compared to everything else that has been happening but on my first day in Laos I put my back out during a hay fever attack. The pain has since spread to my left leg and I have been in a lot of pain every since. I am fine when I am standing but the process of either sitting down or standing up is agony. This morning we got the local Masseuse to come around and have a go at me. I can already feel an improvement so I am quietly confident that this pain wont be a long term thing.
I will type up part two of my Laos trip and post it soon.