We spent a lovely few days in Ko Tao and fitted in some diving in amongst the sunbathing, swimming and reading (it's a tough existence on Ko Tao); the waters are beautifully clear and we saw some really cool fish. A trigger fish attacked my fin and a cleaner fish tried to have a go at a cut on my leg, and we swam through several schools of fish and even some barracuda.

We left the island for Bangkok late on Wednesday afternoon by boat - a beautiful two hour ride where we landed at Chumporn on the mainland just as the sun was setting. The next eight and a half hours were slightly less pleasant; a bus ride overnight back to Bangkok which arrived at half past four in the morning and we were delivered to a different place from where we were expecting to be dropped. We caught a cab to our hotel, bleary eyed and hoping that they'd have some sort of courtesy room for us to crash out in until we could check in, but thankfully our room was ready and we were allowed to check in at 6am. We discovered, too late, that my hat was missing and although the hotel called the cab company several times for us throughout the day, it never reappeared. We are really upset about it because it has been all over the world with us, but I suppose we could have lost far worse things such as our passports or camera :(

We went straight to bed at 6 and slept until lunchtime, then wandered into town for lunch. We found a lovely cafe not far from the hotel which happened to be right next to a pet shop full of puppies and kittens, so after lunch we went in to have a look and the owner gave us some hand sanitiser and told us to play with whichever ones we wanted to - heaven! Our afternoon was spent in the pool as it was about 36 degrees, and in the evening we met the six others who are joining us on our trip around Indochina. Our group leader is an Aussie, there a two American ladies, an American guy (quite a character) and another English couple - all in all a nice group of people who we're getting to know better as we go along.

The following day, we took a trip down the Chao Phraya river and along the canals, and then visited Wat Po (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and Wat Arun (the Temple of the Dawn). The temples are beautiful and incredibly ornate, and the reclining buddha is the biggest of its kind. We also visited the Royal Palace, and after lunch we battled through the markets on the Khaosan Road.

At six that evening, we took a minibus to the railway station for our overnight train to Nong Khai on the Laos border. Our train was quite comfortable, an old 1950's style sleeper carriage where each bunk has curtains, rather than separate compartments, and fourteen hours later we arrived at the border. Crossing over was quite painless (although Laos time is a bit like Filipino time - very laid back, no-one is in a hurry to do anything) and we checked into our hotel in Vientiane, the capital, before a quick lunch (sushi and okonomiyaki) and a wander around town. We found Patuxay - a quasi-Arc de Triomphe which was built in the 1960s to celebrate the struggle for independence and was never quite finished. We had a really lovely meal all together in the evening at a restaurant which trains teenagers from the streets how to wait at tables and also how to prepare and cook meals so that they can go out and have a proper career - the company that organised our tour has a very moral conscience and supports lots of charities and foundations which is cool.

Today we were all up and out by eight o'clock (on a Sunday!) to visit a couple of temples - the only ones not razed to the ground by the Thais last century. Our guide, a local guy, was brilliant - he told us all about the history of Laos and of the temples, each new snippet of information followed by a hearty laugh. He must lead a very happy life! (Or he'd been in the pub a long time last night - there was definitely a faint whiff of alcohol...) Afterwards we visited COPE, a centre which provides medical support and prosthetics for people injured by the thousands of unexploded bombs which the US dropped on Laos during the 60s and 70s and which are still there. There is a black market in scrap metal here and so people are always trying to pick them up to sell them. Apparently, the US were trying to stop the North Vietnamese from using the Ho Chi Minh trail during the war and so they dropped a plane full of bombs every eight minutes for nine whole years. Once again we were reminded how awful wars are and how long are the legacies they leave behind - it was a really interesting place though and we learned a lot that we hadn't known before.

Tomorrow morning we're flying from Vientiane to Luang Prabang for a couple of days, where amongst other things we'll be taking a boat ride on the Mekong River, before heading off to Hanoi in Vietnam. All exciting stuff! We're also grateful that the mosquito repellant which Steve and Pearl gave to us before we left the UK seems to have garlic in it (as recommended by Adele) which is keeping the mozzies away - hurrah! Thanks guys :)