Well we went through Thai immigration this morning and paid our huge exit tax of five Baht (about 13 cents) and then hopped aboard the "ferry" which is really just a long, wooden canoe like boat with a noisy, smelly outboard engine for the five minute crossing to Huay Xai in Laos. We went through Laotian immigration with no problems - it ends up you can now get a 30 day visa on the spot making our efforts in Bangkok a waste of time and money.

We figured we needed to change some money and had heard that there was only one ATM in Laos, way down in Vientiane (probably also now outdated information). Not wanting to run out of cash, we decided to go big and we exchanged $400. We are now officially multi-millionaires, with just short of 4,000,000 Kip, the local currency. This ended up being three huge stacks of money - a one inch stack of one hundred 20,000 Kip notes and two more one inch stacks of one hundred 10,000 Kip notes. All of this was rather hard to hide and be discreet about, but no problems arose. Not a bad return, $400 to be a millionaire! Haven't seen that kind of return since the dot com days. Let's hope our Kip retain their value better than i2 stock did ;-)

Well it ended up that an English couple on the ferry was heading to Luang Nam Tha as well, so after the mandatory bargaining for a tuk-tuk, we all headed off to the local bus station where we luckily found out that there would be a "bus" at 9:30. Cool!

Well "bus" in Lao is commonly called "pickup truck with two incredibly uncomfortable bench seats in the back of the bed" in English.  Two of these arrived and the drivers would absolutely not put our bags on the same roof as the English couple's (Christian and Anna). We waited for another hour or two talking to Christian and Anna who have been on the road about seven months so far in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and South East Asia and are staying here and back in Thailand until just before Christmas. We are a bit jealous of their long timeframe, (but not of their budget).

Well it appeared that we drew the short stick and ended up on the local bus, constantly stopping to pick up more people (and their 50 pound bags of rice, gigantic gourds, chickens, etc.). New!  this should launch in a separate window but if it doesn't hit back after viewing the video Our Luxury Sedan on the way to Luang Nam Tha

Unfortunately, no one seemed to be getting off and we soon found ourselves crammed in the bed of the truck with a total of 14 people in the pickup! Ten of us were smushed in the back, including six 50 pound bags of rice, various bags of vegetables, some car parts, a large cooler and a pissed off chicken in a bamboo basket.  My foot, wedged in between a sack of rice and the cooler, was rapidly falling asleep. Then the road got bad...really bad!

So we had read somewhere that Laos has been busy building highway 3 from China, skirting through northeast Laos into Thailand, originally scheduled for completion in 2005. Well that was delayed by floods, and now they are saying it will be done in 2007. I am not clear on what calendar they use, but I will unequivocally state "no friggin way" will that road be completed in 2007.

Of the nine dusty, bumpy, muddy, bone rattling hours spent in that truck, I would estimate that only 15% was even paved. I have been on many bad roads in my time including Sumatra in the rainy season, the harrowing road between Kashmir and Laddakh, the dirt paths between villages in Cinqueterre and, most recently, the road between Arequipa and Chivay in Peru. This one was up there with all of them - someone should print up the "I survived the road between Huay Xai and Luang Nam Tha" T-shirts - they too could be millionaires (at least in Kip).

We were the only foreigners on the truck and apparently quite the oddity since everyone was staring at us like we were from outer space. No one spoke as we bounced our way down one of the world’s bumpiest roads. I tried to take a video but you might get car sick watching it.

At our first stop I realized that, even though we were in the crappier, local bus, Christian and Anna may have really drawn the short straws since they were both quite tall and their truck was completely packed. 

Well the road continued to get worse as the scenery got more and more beautiful. The countryside is pretty desolate, mostly covered with never ending brilliant emerald green rice paddies and the occasional bamboo and thatch hut. The wind blows across the ripening stalks of rice and makes a shimmering green sea of color - very picturesque. Meanwhile, the potholes and mud got deeper and the dry parts of the road got dustier. Our teeth were covered with a fine layer of grime and my white T-shirt was now a rusty orange/brown.  

We passed through many very small villages of wooden or bamboo huts teaming with smiling children. In one, we saw several young boys, all naked, playing in the muddy stream. Every few hours we would get a break and clamber out of the back of the truck where all the men would pee on the side of the road. The few women would delicately squat right on the road with their sarongs covering them - Anna and Cindy chose to wait it out. The road got so bumpy that you basically had to have at least one hand (if not both) on the bar running down the ceiling of the truck bed. Kind of like holding on in the subway...for nine or ten hours.

The two guys next to Cindy and I (we were sitting across from each other) that were closest to the truck cab (probably the best seats because you could hold on and there was less dust) were quite hilarious. They seemed to be having spitting contests all day, continually snorting and hawking out the open sides of the truck. Each time, we diligently scrunched in towards the center to avoid the overspray.

Suddenly it was lunch time and everyone broke out their food, huge bags of sticky rice and small bits of grilled chicken. They all wanted to share as eating here is a very communal thing and they are truly extremely friendly. Each of them seemed to have a unique and precise method of rolling up their sticky rice into a ball, grabbing a small piece of meat, vegetable or chili paste and devouring it.

Along the way there was actually quite a lot of work going on with regular delays for backhoes, dump trucks and steamrollers. These stops were much more tolerable than having to repeatedly tow a two wheel drive passenger vehicle out of mud above its axles. What those three rocket scientists were thinking driving on a road like that in a passenger car escapes me. At the end of the day, we either helped them or sat behind them waiting for someone else to (the road was far to narrow to pass). The second time this occurred both Christian and I hopped out of our respective trucks to take a snapshot and memorialize this brilliant event. Christian attempted to navigate his way up to the sunken car and made the mistake of stepping on the sloped side of the road and promptly sunk just about up to his calve in thick mud. The locals found this absolutely hilarious.

Anyway, nine hours later we finally arrived in Luang Nam Tha with very sore backsides and looking extremely forward to several cold, frosty Beer Lao's. Unfortunately for us, unlike in Thailand where you are instantly bombarded with touts and tuk-tuk drivers, here there wasn't a single one to be found. Guess that's what you get (and actually what you want) when traveling in a relatively new and pristine locale such as Laos.   A few minutes later Christian and Anna (who arrived a bit before us since we were on the local bus) walked back to the bus station and told us that their guesthouse was "fairly grotty but OK for one night" which made Cindy redouble her efforts in locating a tuk-tuk. Eventually we were successful and got a ride to yet another upscale guesthouse (Cindy is so spoiled! This one is a whopping $25/night) six kilometers out of Luang Nam Tha called the Boat Landing Guesthouse. It is a really nice "eco-tourism" set of bungalows right on the banks of the Nam Tha River with solar heated showers and great food.

After a shower to wash away the road grime, we ended up having dinner with a couple in their 50’s from New Zealand who were really nice and quite adventurous. Doug had a definite fondness for Beer Lao and we shared several over a very tasty spicy Lao meal including a sour fish soup, fiery hot green chili paste, a gourd and pork curry dish, and spicy pork stuffed peppers.

The long day, excellent meal and Beer Lao led to a great night's sleep.

9/8/06

After talking about renting overpriced mountain bikes this morning, we decided to rent a scooter instead so took a tuk-tuk into town and ended up renting a purple Suzuki (yes Mom we rented helmets - unfortunately the pink one didn't fit Cindy...)

We started out down a dirt path that gradually got wetter and muddier. Cindy got off the scooter in an effort to navigate through the increasingly gooshy mud while I forged on ahead trying not to get stuck. Both of us ended up submerged above our ankles much to the amusement of some local kids and a group of Akha women. Somehow, they were all able to make it through the dirt, mud and puddles with hardly a drop on them, a talent in which we are sorely lacking.

We made it through and crossed the wood bridge over the Nam Tha River and into a small village of Black Tai called Ban Phuong where we met a nice twenty-five year old kid named Sotha who spoke great English and invited us to his house.

It was a large, wooden one room house on stilts with a covered balcony and outdoor "kitchen". He lived there with his two younger brothers, his mom and dad and his grandma who he said was 102 (she didn’t look a day over 90 to us and we found it hard to believe that she had his father, who is only 45, at the ripe old age of 57). His older brother and his fifteen year old sister were both already married and no longer lived in that village.

We had some tea and fruit with them and then his mom came home and showed us her silk weavings including a lesson in the lifecycle of the silkworm and the process of turning cocoons into raw silk. Cindy did end up buying a scarf from her.

Sotha's cell phone rang (even the ethnic hill tribe people seem to have technology now, many even have satellite TV!) and he spoke briefly, and then told us that it was his wife on the phone. He just got married last week but his parents don’t like his wife so refused to go to the wedding. She is now studying at university in Luang Prabang. 

We had given him a postcard of Newport Beach which led to a conversation about land and housing costs and he told us that a house is very expensive for Lao people and would cost around ten million kip ($1,000), more if it was in the city instead of the village. We told him that real estate where we live is very expensive too, but I didn't have the math skills or heart to tell him that just the lot could cost a million dollars (which is ten billion Kip for the record).

Suddenly it started pouring rain and so he put on a CD of some bad, pop Thai music and Cindy suggested that I share some of my decidedly alternative musical selections with him. We listened to some acoustic Alice in Chains some Stone Temple Pilots some Audioslave and some Nickleback all of whom he knew and liked. Pretty bizarre! It wasn’t until later that Cindy mentioned that he was wearing a Linkin Park T-shirt.

In the meantime, Cindy joined Sotha's mom in prepping bamboo shoots by pounding them with the flat side of a machete, not an easy task. His mom found this humorous but I think enjoyed the help even if Cindy’s production level was relatively low.

Once the rain stopped, we made our farewells and went the back way to Luang Nam Tha, a very pretty scooter ride mostly on a paved road, for a tasty lunch.

Following lunch, we visited the local market which was filled with interesting stuff including frogs, lizards, some kind of dried and eviscerated rodent (reminiscent of Peruvian Guinea Pig), live crickets, huge black water bugs (which two women had crawling in their hands as they chatted and cut their legs off) and little tiny eels.  To bad we had just eaten!

We braved more pot hole ridden dirt roads to visit the local Stupa on a small hill well out of town in the rice paddies. When we parked the scooter at the base of the steep stairs flanked with Nagas (mythical dragons that often protect temples In Asia) on each side, a man with what looked like something he printed on an old printer at home charged us 2000 Kip each (20 cents). They are slowly gnawing away at our millions! 

Another great dinner at the Boat Landing Guesthouse of spicy raw papaya salad, a traditional stew with chicken, eggplant, peppers and herbs and the hottest herbal chili paste yet had us quaffing Beer Lao.   We ended up talking with two couples who had just returned from a hill tribe trek, two Aussies, Sean and Elise, and two English kids, Rob and Kate, who now work and live in Hong Kong.

9/9/06

Well, it's been raining all night and all morning and we can't figure out whether to venture north for the three hour scooter ride to Muang Sing or hang here at the Boat Landing Guest house another day....

Well, guess we decided to hang here and avoid the rain. We just had an interesting lunch of mostly bamboo. Cindy had fried bamboo stuffed with pork and I had a very spicy chili crab paste that was served with two huge pieces of steamed bamboo washed down with a palm beer (kind of ale-Ish) and a tasty mint and lemongrass fruit shake. So far we have been too wimpy to try any of the local delicacies like stir-fried Borer moths, silkworm larvae or Water Beetle chili paste. Perhaps later (after many beer Lao's)

Just scootered into town to try to email and update the travel blog, however all the electricity is down. Apparently they get all their power from China and someone took out a power line. Hope no one is too worried about our lack of communication. Plans are to scooter to Muang Sing tomorrow weather permitting. Looking forward to another delicious dinner here in a bit.

Saba dai!

Slow day... Got up very late, too late for tubing. And it's effin raining all day!!! Now where to eat? Hmmm, anywhere. When you're in Vang Vieng, you have too many choices, yet not too many. I mean, almost every restaurants look the same, and serve the same food. Not that it's bad. It's actually good! You just sit down, order your food (if the staff is not busy doing something else, like watching TV), then sit down some more, all while watching Friends!!! In fact, I've never seen so many episodes of Friends in my entire life! What better way to pass a lazy day?!?

In Vang Vieng, you can have anything that your stomach desires. They have local cuisine, then Italian, French, Japanese, even Martian. Think I saw a few E.T.-looking people there, so yeah, must be from Mars. It's close enough, anyway. Oh, something more... interesting (speaking for myself here) - I looked at their menu for the first time the previous night (at Lacto Restaurant), and I saw this: Israeli chicken served with Israeli fries cooked in Israeli oil. Plus all other Israeli dishes you can think of (I loved chicken schnitzel). And you can order Israeli Coke too (okay, I invented that one). Wha...?!? Israelis in Laos?!? I mean, enough of them for the restos to include Israeli food in the menu, c'est bizarre! But as the day went by, I saw them - Israelis in full force. Wow!!! Never seen that much Israelis in my life since I stopped reading the Bible. Very interesting for me! Too bad I wasn't able to talk to any of them during that time.

Okay, enough about the Israelis. After 'lunch', we went looking for the Smile Bar, that famous watering hole for tubers along the river where the tubers go tubing. We kinda found it, but there weren't any people around. Perhaps it was still too early then. So we just went back to mainland and had some internet time. At nightfall, after a late dinner, we decided to go back there, but still no people. Well, there were a few, but who cares about them. Now why weren't there any people around?!? Because it's still raining, that's why! Which was just perfect, because there are a lot of stuff that you can do while it's raining, and my favorite among them is sleeping. Can't go wrong with sleeping!!!

That ends our very interesting day. The calm before the storm...

FROM DOWN TOWN LUANG PRABANG U NEED TO TAKE TUKTUK TO O TO THIS PLACE! ESPECIALLY WHEN U ARE HONEYMOONERS !U DONT WANT TO WALK FOR 2 KM.LA RESIDENCE PHOU VAO IS ORIENT EXPRESS TRAINS N CRUISES..IMAGINE THAT HOW THEY WILL SPOIL U!BEST FOOD,SPA,AND ALL THE ACTIVITES WILL B ORGANIZED.TRY TO VISIT LAO CAVE...(25KM),MUSEUM(2KM),FEED THE MONKS(EVERY MORNIN=DOWN TOWN),LAO FALLS OR JUST ENJOY THE INVINITIVE POOL.I WAS THERE THIS YEAR..STAYED THERE FOR D NIGHTS!MARVELLOUS

Welcome to Vientiane!!! Hmmm... The airport looked modern enough (all airports except that of Manila is modern enough for me, seriously). People looked friendly, yes. The place looked... interesting. Quiet. Wide open spaces. Quiet. No traffic, no air pollution. Quiet. Nice people. Quiet...

Whoa! Jeez, almost fell asleep there! :D So, how did we do? Good enough, I guess. By the way, when Hanie went over to the immigration officer at the airport and they saw that she's a Filipino citizen, he and the officer beside him (also a guy) talked in Lao and laughed. Weird. I mean, what's funny? That Hanie doesn't look Asian when she's in Asia? Or that she's pale? How dare you, officers! Share the joke so I can laugh with you! :D

Anyway, got passed the same immigration officer (he didn't laugh at me). I had a mild attack of immigraphobia again, but luckily I got through without any hassle. Then, got a cab who took us to the travel agency that books trips to Vang Vieng and the rest of Laos. After booking a 1PM trip, we still had so much time. So we had some food (Lao dish, I guess, but can't really tell), then walked around the city and took some pictures, but other than that, there's nothing else to do. Oh, browse TB? Yeah, that one.

Then, boarded a van with 8 other people (plus the driver and his assistant but could also be his friend, and lover, or both). So, there we were, one white couple (I'm pretty sure because they're kinda sweet, of the same age, and argues a bit too), another white couple (not too sure this time, and the guy was not so white anymore because of too much tanning under the sun or maybe from a tanning salon), 4 Japanese ladies (not couples probably, and I'm also not sure if they're Japanese, could be Korean or Chinese, they all look the same to me, as usual), a brown monkey (that's me), and a brown monkey/white monkey, but the dominant color is white, and she's the palest of us all, so it's hard to describe (that's Hanie). I did mention the 2 other brown monkeys, right? The driver and his assistant/friend/lover-maybe? Yeah, I did.

So, all aboard!!! Be in Vang Vieng in 4 hours (or more)!!! By the way, cheers to the two college (?) students who became my translators while I was buying food for lunch. Without them, I would've ordered fried frogs or elephant ball soup without me being aware of it until I eat the food which would probably taste like, well, a frog or an elephant's balls. Not that I would know how those taste like.

We had a great time in Luang Prabang. I would recommend the place to anyone. We had such a relaxed time there, and there are so many great food options, which is always one of the highlights for us.

We did the obligatory two trips which all of the tour operators offer: to the nearby Kuang Si waterfalls and to the Pak Ou caves, which is a short trip by boat along the Mekong.

The caves are full of Buddhist statues which have been left there by various people. They're not the most interesting caves I've visited, but the boat trip along the Mekong was relaxing, and it's always nice to get a bit of a view of the countryside.

The water at the Kuang Si waterfalls was pretty icy for swimming in; I had to get out after a few minutes. The location is very scenic and relaxing, although there were a fair few tourists there. We stopped off at a local Hmong village on the way back to see how the tribal people live; they must get so many visitors that their way of life will be nothing like what it used to be.

One morning we got up early to see the 6am monks' parade through the town centre, which was an impressive sight; people give donations of food to the monks. We also went up to the top of the big hill in town, which affords a good view over the surrounding area.

We bought a couple of souvenirs from the market (most of the fare on the market is directed at tourists). We had the interesting experience of haggling over the price, in Lao Kip, and then having to haggle over the exchange rate when we came to pay in Thai Baht. There is a dual economy in Laos, and you can spend Thai Baht banknotes in lots of places (which is useful because the highest denomination of bank note they had was 20,000 Kip, which was less than US$2, meaning you could end up with quite a wad of paper). We found that the cheapest way to change our Thai Baht into Kip, which we could then use for smaller transactions, was to go to a bar or restaurant and buy something small with a large Thai Baht note. You seemed to get better value doing this then you'd get going to a money changer.

I'd been trying to persuade Zoe that we should do the two-day boat trip along the Mekong from Luang Prabang to the Thai border, from where we could work our way overland, first to Chiang Rai and then on the Chiang Mai. It's a fairly popular backpacker route, although I think that people tend to favour travelling in the other direction for some reason. Anyway, in the end I couldn't persuade Zoe that it was a good idea (she was worried that it would be uncomfortable and unpleasant), so we headed to the aiport in Luang Prabang and bought ourselves tickets to fly direct to Chiang Mai. It was with Lao Airways, and was only about US$60 each. It was a pretty good option in the end, because we only had a limited amount of time, and lots of things we wanted to see.

For a small town like Vang Vieng, Malany Guesthouse is big. Five storeys, if I'm not mistaken (no elevators). Big balconies on each floor with a nice view of the mountains (not private, though). The place is also quite old, and has this creepy feel to it, like those ghost-infested places that you see in movies (awooo). I even started hearing voices, but I realized that there are people in the other rooms wehehehe. There is one long, dark hallway with rooms on both sides, and ours was almost at the very end of it. Creepy. The room had one big bed (good for sharing), a closet with a mirror, a night table, air-con, and only one light bulb mounted on the wall (major creepy). All the furnitures were ancient (again, creepy). But wait til you see the bathroom. It was cavernous! Almost as big as the bedroom, but 10 times creepier! Don't try to talk, because you'd hear echos bouncing back from all directions for several minutes! Okay, I'm exaggerating, but it's really huge. Good for singing-in-the-shower type of people, though :D The water temperature was hard to adjust, so expect some scalding instances from time to time (or maybe it was just our room). They also 'forgot' to provide towels until we asked for them, and when they did, they gave us freshly-used ones. If you're kinky, that's great, right? If not, bring your own. There was also this incidence: A lady guest asked the manager to fix the shower in her room. He went up with another guy, and they ended up harassing her, sexually. The poor lady got traumatized and asked his friends to check out, but the creepy manager wouldn't let them unless they pay for the other night that they booked for even though they won't use the room anymore. Now that's creepy. So, why would you want to check in? Because it's cheap (around USD10 per room), has a cavernous bathroom that can fit a whole basketball team (wink wink) and they provide one bottle of mineral water, which in my opinion was the best thing about the place! And of course, who can forget the used towels? ;D

I know this had been used before, but seriously, how far is heaven?!? Another 4 hours of butt torture. Geez, I should be used to this by now. But no, I'm not. Especially if the vehicle I'm in is cramped up. And the air-con isn't working. Well, it was working, but instead of cool air, it was blasting hot air on our faces. So, after just 30 minutes, we staged a mutiny against our driver and his assistant/friend/lover-maybe and opened our windows to let the refreshing Lao breeze in. Great minds think alike, really!

The Lao countryside was such a sight to behold. Beautiful, rugged mountains, picturesque rice fields, wide, muddy rivers, and lakes everywhere! I loved it! I especially liked the parts where the road we're on was the only thing that divides two bodies of water apart. It's like driving on the sea, but not quite. Too bad I didn't have a camera (yes, I'm still really bitter about it).

The road was very smooth, and mostly paved. However, we were not the masters of the road. Instead, the cows were. Yes, COWS. You know, those animals that gave us all the nutrients that we needed when we were babies and our mothers were busy working? Yes. I'm telling ya, they're everywhere!!! People in Laos revere them. They are the masters of the road. They make them their playground, their siesta lounge. Cars and motorcycles avoid them, drivers rather die than accidentally kill them. Next to the ostriches, cows are the bitches!!! Whenever I had an eye-to-eye contact with one, the cow would look at me like I'm inferior while chewing as if bored with me, then looks away. Gggrrr!!! Yo're not even a cute-looking cow, you!!! Don't you ever go to Argentina, or you'd be dead meat!!! :P

Deep-breathing. Nail-biting. Hair-pulling. Nose-picking. Okay, I'm calm. I just hate bitches. Wait, just saw a sign saying Vang Vieng!!! Wooohooo!!! Got some glimpse of the river where we might end up while tubing. Niiice!!! It started raining, but who cares? We're in effin Vang Vieng!!! We got off at one of the newer and more expensive hotels in town. A lady tried to persuade us to check in. We would have, but we found her creepy, talking but barely opening her mouth, like a ventriloquist!!! So, had to walk in the rain while looking for a hotel that Lonely Planet recommended, called Malany Guesthouse. Found it 1 year later. Checked in. Showered...

Wait, where are the effin towels?!? Went downstairs and asked the manager, and he said in Lao sign language that they'll take them to our room. They did, but I swear to Angelina Jolie that those towels were freshly-used. Like, some other people just showered and used the towels to dry themselves, then the guesthouse staff took the towels, folded them, and handed them to us. Nice touch! I found it quite sexy, to be honest. Imagine, someone else's body hair and dead skin cells rubbing against me? Oh la la! I'd take used towels anytime baby!!! :D

Our day ended with dinner. We wanted to check out some of the bars that our friends recommended, but we're pretty exhausted. So, called it a night early, and hoped to wake up to a fresh start the next day. Go tubing, maybe? Wooohooo!!!

We got a bus from Vientiane to Phonsavan, skipping over Vang Vieng in the process; it sounded like a bit too much of a backpacker hangout for us, and we only had limited time in Laos.

The bus journey to Phonsavan was long and hot. We'd paid for an air-conditioned bus, and whilst there was air-conditioning fitted, the failure to turn it on rather detracted from the benefit it might have given. I was already feeling not too great in a way that necessitated frequent toilet visits, so 10 hours on a hot bus on a windy road was not exactly what I needed at the time. The experience was further enhanced by having Thai pop videos playing at full volume on the bus's TV for most of the journey.

We did finally get to Phonsavan, and found a cheap place to stay in the centre of town. The part of Phonsavan where we stayed had the feel of a service town in the middle of nowhere; all stretched out along a long straight dusty road. In fact when we went on our tour of the Plain of Jars we were driven through other parts of town which had a different character and were much smarter, but that was the only time we saw them.

The main (only) reason for going to Phonsavan was to visit the Plain of Jars: several hillside sites around the town covered in enormous stone jars, believed to be burial jars, although little is known about their history. We duly booked ourselves on a tour, ignoring the pleas of the man from our guesthouse and booking with a cheaper company across the road. He kept asking us to "think of the quality", but we were quite happy to have a tour guide who didn't spend the whole day talking; we much prefer to just go and have a look round places. Having said that, we did also have an hour sitting at the roadside when our minibus broke down, which might not have happened if we'd paid the extra few dollars! In the end we had a very good day, though.

We were planning to leave for Luang Prabang on the public bus, but, in one of our more successful haggling episodes of our entire year away, we managed to get a minibus transfer for the same price. The reason we got the price so low is because for many reasons we preferred the idea of the publi bus, mainly because you get less travel sick on them on twisty mountain roads. By continually saying "no, we'd rather go on the public bus" the price kept coming down, until we decided it was maybe worth it. It still left us feeling a little woozy at times, and the Lao lady who we picked up for part of the journey spent most of it being sick out of the window (so it's not just us foreigners at least).

Now I am chosing not to bore you guys with the annoying journey stories, cause there a very boring but i am going to share a toilet experience. Oh yes!

Well whilst waiting for yet another bus I decided to sneek to an Internet Cafe to check my mail at 730am. But a call of nature happened, off i went to the loo. Too be greeted by the biggest insect in the world which was cockroach serious in must have been 4 inches long and it arf moved fast. But mum and sisters i wasnt a screaming girl, I went in. And do you know why... cause it was a spider!!

Well I am full of facinating stories arent I!!!

Just a short message to say... to keep up with the tradition of Cake in Auntie Irene memory we have found the best french bakery..... it actually feels like you are in france well apart from the coat hanger on the door being in a shape of a elephant. But the cake oh the cakes!!! The bread...The juices.....mmmm tastes of europe

Last night at dinner Matt informed us that there has been a landslide in the north of Lao and that there was a slight possibility that we may not be able to drive to the north of Lao for our home stay. So today we were meeting in the lobby to decide on what to do. Not feeling the best I really didn't care what was decided I just wanted to go back to bed, which is what I did until about 10am.

The next day I wondered around for most of the day then I met Susan and Marie in the lobby so we could go and get a massage We walked in and immediately we were so relaxed. This place was stunning. Looking through the menu of options. Susan went for the foot massage and a shampoo and blow dry where Maire and I decided to get a facial and a massage. Sitting there waiting for our turn. Marie and I were given these really nice herbal teas, then Marie and I were taken in the room together, which was really nice and had a curtain in between the beds.

Later that day after doing pretty nothing all day I met the group across the road for pizza and a few Beer Lao's, when we were informed that there had been another landslide. A few of the group were talking about driving out there anyway and seeing if we could still get through but I think that was the Beer Lao talking as most of us didn't want to risk it so we decided to fly straight to Hanoi instead of the 6hr drive the first day then the 12hr drive the next. Hmm not really an easy choice to make.

After dinner we were still wanting to experience more Beer Lao as we just had quite gotten a taste for it yet so we went to check out a roof top bar. Where we stayed until the early hours of the morning which in Lao time is only 12am.

Today we were supposed to get up at 5am to go to the offering of the arms at one of the buddist temples, but due to our late night chat with Marc, and Susan's alarm not going off, oh and the several attempts of Matt banging on our door, we missed it! Eventually waking up at 6.30am we were then hit with the realisation the we had in fact missed it and we very disappointed by this, but eventually got over it when the lovely sound of "Sabai dee" at our door meant that our breakfast was now being served on our deck.

Later that morning at 9am we met the rest of the group for our tour to the Ethnology Centre, where we were taught about the different tribes in Lao. After the center we were taken back to the hotel to finish packing as we were leaving Luang Prabang today and flying to Vientiane. The plane was awful and worse still I got stuck next to Esra. We had to sit on the wing of the plane and it was so loud and vibrated so much that I was glad it was only a short flight. When we arrived we boarded our bus and were on our way to the guest house. After checking in to my own room this time, we went and looked at Phat Tham and Paxtai. I'd already seen both of these places but was still happy to go along for the ride.

Later that night we went for dinner t Khop Chai, where we met an Aussie twat and his physco Polish wife. They we both drunk and were getting abusive when discussing certain things. I was glad when we decided to go upstairs and have dinner. After dinner and may cocktails and Beer Lao we weren't quite ready to go to bed so we decided to check out the local night club scene, so Matt took us to one of the hotels (cant remember which one now) which was located on the river. Once getting there our bags were checked and I ended up losing everyone as I met these two girls from Edinburgh who had just come back from Perth, but then soon found the group again at the bar. The night club reminded me of a club from the 80s, not that I went to a club in the 80s as I was still only a kid but the green laser beams were just so old school. At about 3am the lights then came on an all the locals were kicked out but us foreigners were left to continue drinking. We stayed not long after that and then headed home.

With a free day to explore Luang Prabang a few of us went into town for a look around and also to find a internet cafe, but due to the heat there was no power in town, so we walked and we walked up and down the same street, with Esra (one of the girls on this tour, who does nothing but complain) constantly complaining the whole time how hot is was. We said enough is enough and found some where to eat lunch. After lunch the power came back on so we went across the road to use the internet before heading back to the hotel for our village tour.

On this tour we were taken to different villages which specialized in different things. The first village we went to was a Blacksmiths village where they make spades, knives, machetes and other things. Then we went to a Lao, Lao Whiskey Village. Dont really need to explain what they do here. We all got to try some and it was quite potent and also because it was fresh out of the vat, it was quite warm to drink. Di and Graeme bought a small bottle of it to take with them. Next we were taken to a Silk and Paper village. We were shown how they make the paper and how they weave the silk into products to sell.

We also visited Wat Xieng Thong Temple, which is pretty much like most temples I'd already seen but the one difference was the type of decoration and the tree of life on the back of one of the temples. After the temple some of us were really looking forward to getting back to the hotel for a shower and a bit of a rest as it had been quite a hot day, so Di, Graeme and I caught a tuk-tuk back to the hotel and left the others in town.

Unfortunately for me and Susan we got stuck with Esra for dinner so the three of us went into town and wondered around until we found a place to eat. We decided on a place called "The Coconut Restaurant" and ordered pizzas which were really nice. After finishing our meals Esra decided to go and use the internet while Susan and I had a couple of more beers, but Esra did not come back so Susan and I got stuck with the bill. Annoyed at her for not coming back we eventually found her and she gave us a whole bunch of excuses which I did not care for and in my Aussie way I told her so.

We left town and made Esra pay for the cab fare, then had a night cap of Beer Lao and went to bed as we had an early start the next morning.

At 7.30am Susan and I were woken up to the sound of "Sabidee", which was the lovely lady bringing us our breakfast. Sitting on our deck of our bungalow, looking out onto the lush green gardens of the resort, we couldn't of asked for a better way to wake up and Susan & I really didn't want to leave where we were as we had a 4hr hike ahead of us.

At 8am we were met by our guide who will be taking us to the Kuang Sii Falls. Marc, Susan, Marie, Eoin, Di, Graham and I headed off in the tuk tuks to a village where we would begin our hike. The ride there was very scenic as we saw a lot of the country side and some of the villages, where the children would come running out to say hello as you drove past. What was also amazing to see was the kids playing outside and playing with anything they could to have fun. We saw two young boys playing with thongs (flip flops), to see who could throw them the furtherest. Most kids back home are either inside glued to the TV or computer or their parents are so worried that their poor babies will get hurt and dont allow their kids to play outside.

We arrived at our starting point and were met by more village children who were so happy to see us and allowed us to take pictures of them. These kids just melted your heart. Even me who is not really a kid kind of person but these kids were so happy, unspoilt, friendly kids which was so refreshing to see. Western kids could learn a lot from the village children.

After a while of playing with the kids our guide had to tear us away so we could start the hike. With the temperature already rising I was hoping the hike was going to be easy but soon found out that that was not going to be the case. With the sun beating down on us and the track not really the best, I knew I was going to have a hard time, oh that and Id stopped going to the gym 3 months before my trip. We walked a fair distance before getting to the first climb of the trip. Being at the back of the group I was beginning to feel the pain in my knees (dam dodgie 80 yr old knees) and was then feeling a little embarrassed when the villagers started to pass me carrying bags of rice.

Finally I made it too the top of the hill and then began to make my way down. Slowly but surely I navigated my way down the slippery and rocky path. Glad to be over the first climb I wasnt looking forward to the next one. After about another half hour of walking I started to feel really sick. I was sweating buckets and felt like I was going to throw up. Having to stop constantly Di thought I could have heat exhaustion and that I should put my head between my knees and take deep breaths. Feeling some what better I continued on but soon started feeling sick again. Not wanting to go on Marie went to inform the guide.

Feeling so sick and stupid Marc came running down the hill to check on me, which was nice, then the guide and Susan soon followed and made sure I was ok. After drinking lots of water I started to feel ok and slowly made my way up another steep hill. With the assurance from the guide that the hike is now pretty easy we continued on down the other side of the hill. Walking on this hike we came across some beautiful scenery and many interesting insects which some of them were ones that like to bite so we had to try and steer clear of them. The track eventually became pretty bad as it got really, really muddy and not matter how much mud we scrapped off our boots they were eventually covered again.

With all of us sliding around on the muddy paths there were many close calls, but eventually Susan and Di both fell into the mud and if the mud was bad enough soon we came across leaches which were getting stuck in our boots under our socks. So with the heat exhaustion, mud and now leaches it was turning into a very adventurous hike. After about 3 hours of hiking we arrived to a pool which was pretty much the beginning of the waterfall. Desperately wanting to go in for a swim to cool off and clean our boots we were all disappointed to see the No Bathing signs. Standing on a rock at the waters edge taking pictures, I turned around to walk back to the group, only I loose my footing and half fall into the water.

Gripping on to the rock with dear life as I had my camera in my hand, the group once again came to my aid and rescued my camera with me to follow. Now that I had cooled off and cleaned my boots we were on our way again. After about another hour we arrived at the top of the waterfall. Wading through the water we were surprised that the water current was not strong which enabled us to stand right at the edge and look over at the falls. After a few photos and many videos we now had to head down to the bottom of the falls. Climbing down the side of the mountain we came to the side of the waterfall and some wooden steps which made the hike down a lot easier.

We then joined the rest of the group who didnt go on the hike at the swimming hole and we were greeted with shocked looks as we were covered from head to toe in mud, scratches and bleeding from all the leaches. Enjoying a nice swim in the water we eventually left and went and had some lunch at one of the local places at the falls.

Later that night we had a BBQ dinner in the gardens of the hotel. With all the fairy lights and candles it was a nice setting after a hard days hiking. After dining on BBQ Chicken or Fish, mash potatoes, green salads, crinkle fries and many Beer Laos, we began the trivia and riddles. Many more Beer Laos were had and we actually drunk the hotel dry so a few of the boys decided to go into to town and get some more. With the table now covered in bottles of Beer Lao it was time to hit the sack.