Home Straight

Day 95: Vientiane (LAO) – Nong Khai (T). Built and funded by the Australian Government; opened in 1994 - the Thai-Lao Friendship bridge was the first bridge across the lower Mekong and provided the route for Karen and my final border crossing. On one of our shortest travelling days to date, the short hop from one side of the river to the other saw us entering Thailand; our twelfth and last country.

With the continuing political unrest in Thailand, this border had been seized by red-shirted protesters of the UDD just a few days previously and so it was touch and go whether we would be allowed to make the crossing south. But today, everything seemed peaceful enough; there was no sign of any protesters and we were waved through efficiently, courteously and without incident. In fact, so relaxed were the proceedings that the Lao officials even forgot to collect their customary 'beer money' bribes from us!

But despite the fact we had only travelled a few miles across a thin stretch of water, already Thailand felt very different to the rest of Indochina. Arriving in the North-eastern region of Isan, an area where few Thai's venture let alone any tourists, the contrasts were noticeable to Karen and me. Thailand was considerably more developed, more affluent and more connected than our destinations of the past seven weeks. A comfortable balance between East and West, foreign and familiar. Described as 'the worlds most accessibly exotic location', this would be the ideal place to gently prepare us for our impending return to the UK. But that was still over a week away – until then we had the chance to embark on one final journey of discovery on our road to Bangkok.

Good roads and working services weren't the only differences here. Stepping out into the road in Nong Khai, I soon discover that the traffic drives on the left hand side of the road in Thailand – a transition cleverly managed by a set of traffic lights on the Friendship Bridge and completely unnoticed by me. Fortunately though, the quick thinking of the local drivers meant the incident ended in my embarrassment rather than an unwelcome trip to hospital. Lesson number 6,843!