Take us to the island

Just when I was liking Laos again after some market retail therapy and some yummy food we got ripped off one more time at 6 this morning while trying to get to the airport. Now under normal circumstances we wouldn't prepay for a tuk tuk pick up, but the woman in the agency where we booked our flight to Bangkok seemed very reputable and above board so when she asked us if we wanted to book a tuk tuk with her driver to pick us up for a discounted rate we saw no reason to say no. At the back of my mind when we were paying I did think, hmm how do we know he'll turn up?But then I thought no stop being so negative, trust her. Should have trusted the element of doubt! We walked up to the top of the road to meet the driver and presumed the one lingering was ours. He pretended not to have much English when we asked him if he was our driver and had our receipt and instead offered to take us to the airport for 30baht. Funnily enough this was the exact price we'd paid and well below what they normally quote before haggling . This was his first move in making us suss.

We ignored him and waited a little bit back down the street. At 6.15 when we really needed to be in a tuk tuk and were contemplating what we should do he appeared again, more suss. At this stage we were pretty sure he was our driver who'd already been paid and was chancing his arm knowing we had to get to the airport. We eventually had to make a call as time was ticking so we loaded our gear in and told him we'd pay him. When we approached the airport we got all our bags on first and then handed him a roll of notes,less than what he'd asked for. As I gave it to him I told him this would have to do, it was all we had.He didn't even complain or try to get the rest out of us. This confirmed our suspicions, he must have been our prepaid driver and now he's just done us out of almost double the money. We left Laos angry and feeling sick form being conned. Such a shame as Luang Prabang had been such a nice town.

Two fligths, 5 hours and 2 inflight snacks later we landed in the boutique airport of Koh samui. As we were transported from the plane to arrivals on a very colourful golf cart come Bray Seafront train ride carriage we felt like were in Disneyland. We were excited to be back at the coast and picked up on everyone else's honeymoon / 'we're on holiday and we have lots of energy and clean clothes' vibe and an hour later sipping Pimms and playing Jackpot by the pool Luang Prabang and its thieves seemed a long long time ago! And it is on these beautiful islands that we will spend our last 3.5 weeks of this amazing trip.Although you all think we've been on holiday for a year we are now exhausted and looking forward to spending more than 2 or 3 nights in the same bed and even more so the thought of a night in our own bed! So we plan to kick back, enjoy the sea and sand and contemplate our trip of a lifetime!