Miss ANNE MINETT

"Miss ANNE MINETT" read the sign that the driver was holding when I arrived in Laos.

He was cute. Probably barely old enough to drive and didn't speak a drop of English though.

We jumped into one of those ute-turned-tuk-tuk-esque-taxi vehicles that they drive here in Laos and took off. His driving was slightly more conservative than what I had experienced in Thailand, but his odometre swung violently between 0 and 160 the entire way, so I really had no idea how fast we were going (and neither did he!)

I attempted to speak with him, but he really had no idea. So I sat silently, ecstatic that I was finally in Laos if not 2 days later than planned.

I suppose I was expecting the drive to be around 10-15 minutes. Maybe 30 minutes at most. Which is why after we had been driving for more than an hour, I began to feel a little confused. I definitely wasn't nervous though. I think that the joy of finally being in Laos outweighed any concerns of where I actually ended up for the night. (!)

We're on dirt road and the drop to my left is uh.... deadly.

We stop. He rolls down his window and shouts inquiringly at this old lady on the side of the road. She is old and fat and yells back at him. They shout at each other for a while and then, disatisfied, he drives off.

I don't even know what I'm expecting. Maybe a giant building/headquarters? A big hotel? It looks unlikely. We've been following this dirt road for a very long time and have only seen dirt, river and small huts.

We pull into a village and my driver hops out and walks off. Are we here? I don't know and I don't care. I snap some photographs until my driver returns with an air of confidence that he was really lacking previously.

Back on the road.

Before long we spot a group of children on the road. They're not locals. As we get closer I spot a white guy with a wide brimmed hat. We slow down to pass.

"Graham?" I ask.

"You must be Pam - Welcome!"

He has an extremely warm, gentle manner and I feel immediately relaxed and relieved. He introduces me to his wife (I'll need to double check on the spelling of this..) Bua, who shows me to the house where I will be sleeping for the next few nights.