That one time.

Our journeys between stops have been consistently eventful so far. Koh phi phi to Phuket airport we lied to the bus company and told them our flight was within the hour and we got this crazy lady taxi driver that raced us the whole way there using her horn instead of her indicators. Chiang Mai to Pai was the worst bus journey ever; 3 hours, 770 bends and 10 very, very hungover bus mates. Pai to Luang Prabang, well I wrote a whole post on that during the week. And now we just arrived in Vang Vieng. The journey wasn't so crazy considering some of our previous adventures but still out of the ordinary for us poor sheltered Irish lasses. We are just used to order and (possibly over the top) safety precautions. For instance, I was the only one with a working seat belt, some of our luggage was piled up on the seats next to our co-passengers and there was a baby on board without a child seat. To be fair he drove (mostly) cautiously but at one point stepped heavily on the brakes and the baby's head did snap back a bit. Thankfully the mother caught him. I don't know, being here I'm starting to wonder if we live in a little uptight bubble with rules and supervision for everything and anything. I think we live in constant fear of 'that one time' it could go wrong. It hangs over us like a rain cloud. I know myself I have a bad habit imagining every single thing that could go wrong before I do something. I'm a worrier, can't help it.  

But then, things do go wrong sometimes. I'm contradicting myself now but it would be stupid to live in eternal optimism if one simple safety precaution prevented your family falling apart. What if there was one little accident today? I had a seat belt but might have been battered by flying backpackers and their backpacks and not to mention the poor little baby. A disaster for all our families. And what might be surprising is that I think Laos drivers are much more considerate than Thai drivers. 

It seems to be two different attitudes altogether on this side of the world even though we have the same things; roads, children, animals and traffic. Just two different attitudes to the same things. 

 

Anyway, myself and Lorna have booked a kayaking and 'cave tubing' tour for tomorrow. Let's see how much instruction and safety precautions we are given!