Laos

just thought i would update my little diary for you all to ponder back in little old england.

i am now in vietiane, the capital of laos and have actually managed to make a decision about my future plans. i am flying, with lucy, dan left this morning to return home, into hanoi on thursday morning, before i think we go are different ways. it took alot of dithering around to come to that but the bottom line is that we didnt think we could take the 24 hours on a bus and bit the bullet and paid abit extra.

Vang Vieng was a nice little place to chill out for a few days and enjoy the countryside. i went tubeing down the river. by that i mean floating on an innner tube of a bus/lorry tyre downstream. its was a laugh and pretty good fun, although it rained for most of it. along the way there are plenty of little bars and cafes which throw ropes at you so you dont float past. they all have rope swings and places to throw yourself off into the muddy water, which i did twice - the second without much grace (was going for the whole forwrd double tuck, but managed to go arse over tit and land on my back.

had a few nights out around the town and found a nightclub - strange little place but funny. much like the town itself - the best place to eat and chill out was run by a lady-boy, but people put up with him/her because the food was so good. dan was especially taken by the place and he would frequently be found relaxing in the bar. the actual town was like a little bangkok - bars played dvds all day of friends to attract westerns in, that sort of stuff.

apart from that i went to look at some caves across the river, on the only bridge left standing by all the recent rain. good view from the top but it was a bit to well done - electric lights etc. but worth a look

left there yesterday to get down to the capital of laos, on a reasonable journey of 4 hours ish.as soon as we got off the bus we dumped into one of the irish lads, its a small world. this place is strange really - not what you think of a capital of being and its got the city smells which i had forgotten about. god only knows what hanoi will be like -similar to bangkok is what i have been told. so i think i will be going straight east and heading for halong bay and the coast.

i will let you know how i am getting on in vietnam in the not to distant future and will hopefully have some "good" news about my degree (fingers crossed and all that)

other news is that my burnt legs are now peeling, i will leave you with that thought

first things first - the irish lads turned up safe and sound - they hit a rock and had to wait to be found and brought down stream by another boat. we went out (dan, lucy and myself) with them to celebrate the night after the fact that we all made it and lucy's birthday.

i have started to do a little travelling with dan and lucy as we were basically doing the same thing in laos before everyone goes to do different things (dan is a helicopter pilot in the raf and has been based outside shrewsbury for the last year - random or what). its nice to travel with other people for a bit as it makes it alot easier - tickets etc and you dont have to do every little thing yourself.

since i last wrote i have moved south from luang prabang in two, eight hour journeys by laos public bus. the first being to phonosvan to see some 'massive jugs'. the journey was a bit of a nightmare as it was on a dangeours route through the centre of country. not sure if i was relieved or frighten by the sight of a 'guard' on the bus carrying a ak47 over his shoulder! this is due to hijack attempts and bombings by rebels in recent times, although not for a couple of years. i thought at one point that we would need it......... a load of local men got on the bus in camo gear and one sat next to me on the bus, we were pretty high up and driving through cloud so you couldnt see much, as we came round a corner there was a truck parked across the both sides of the road with men shouting and waving there arms. straight away all the men who had just got on stood up and moved towards the bus - i promptly had my heart in my mouth thinking that something bad was about to happen to us. anyway the guy had just broken down and the men standing up turned into a regular thing.

the route itself was very slow due to a unreasonable road surface and the fact that we were going into the mountains. the previous nights activities with the irish lads ( came back to are hostel and had a little party in a spare room ) came back to us all and made us feel ropey. by the time we got there it was again raining and pretty miserable and we went to the first hostel that offered us a room. it was pretty good and i had a bungalow to myself, very nice with a huge and i mean huge double bed in it. we arranged a trip the next day to see the attractions and they put a video on about the secret war in laos, to give us a little history. i didnt realise that the trail from the vietnam war came so far inside laos and the fact that the usa dropped more bombs on laos than they did in the first and second world wars combined, crazy. the problem being that millions of tonnes of bombs that didnt go off are in the fields and surrounding countryside - killing thousands of locals a year. although the locals use the disarmed bombs for all sorts of things - signposts, fencing, ash trays and hanging baskets to name a few.

the trip was good. we went to visit a field of bomb craters, a russian made vietcong tank and then the plain of jars. this is three different sites of massive stone jars, which no one knows how they got there or what they are for. it was pretty impressive and the largest one was 600 tonnes. went out for an indian meal before an early night as they was a curfew in place on the town at 10.00 crazy or what. started to pack my bag singing along to the ipod when the lad who lived in the hostel came in and offered me a beer free of charge, in return for me teaching him some english words. so i sat there for an hour or so getting drunk and teaching a kid english while he teached me laos.

this morning had to be up and at the bus station for 6.45 to catch the bus to vang vieng, i wasnt feeling to great after the nights antics. the bus was a bit better than the first although we had live animals in crates with us this time and a pyscho bus driver who loved to play his local music loud over the speaker system. all the locals were being sick out of the window and i thought when in rome...... so i did, twice and felt a whole let better for it. arrived at around 2ish and got a pretty good hostel at a bargain price of about 1 pound 50. this place is nice and chilled out and there seems plenty to do - mainly caving, tubing and hire motor bikes. all of which i reckon i will do in the next couple of days. unsure of my plans for the future - want to see southern laos but it will involve four 13 hour bus trips and i would only have 2 days there. so i might attempt to bring forward my vietnam visa a week and head across to hanoi and then visit southern laos when i am in cambodia in a couple of months.

hope everyone is fine and dandy wherever you may be

rob

hello all, thought i better write up the last few days and update you on some crazy happenings.

10th june - i went to visit a snake farm and then a monkey show in chaing mai. the snake farm was mental- three guys in a ring just messing about with deadly snakes and annoying them in order for them to react and so try to bite them. the guy got biten by a deadly snake on the arm but it just got his t-shirt and then his crotch aswell. there were also letting them wander into the stands where people were sitting it wasnt good but everyone made it out in one piece. the monkey show was less dangerous and just didnt feel right to me - although seeing a monkey riding a bike round a pool was funny but just wrong somehow.

11th june - i had a trip to visit longneck - those of you that have been reading this alot will know that this was cancelled the first time! it was a long day and on route we visited an orchid farm, butterfly farm and the chaing dau caves. the caves were really impressive and there were various routes yo could do. due to being stuck with a wingeing pair of massively overweight korean ladies and a pair of sick germans we had to stick to the shortest possible route which had electric overhead. i wanted to do the mile route by touch light but they werent having any of it. after this we stopped for lunch and then i thought i was back home in wonderful wales or that penley car sales had gone global as the bloody mini van broke down - in the middle of nowhere. we were stuck for about 3 hours before a replacement truck showed up. we got to the village and had a wander round and up into the hills to see the women. its a con though as there necks arent any bigger than normal people - its a traditional thing to protect the neck from getting bitten by a tiger. the only reason it looks longer is cause it goes down further on the chest. anyway got back really late and just went to bed - via an aussie pub for tea. at one point we were so far up north that you could see china!

if anyone is in chaing mai visit - richly guest house, heaven beach bar, the wall and the kafe.

12th june - left chaing mai but the first bus was full so had to wait untill midday. ended up watchin the tyson fight in a random little bar and then got on another mini bus for another 6 hours to reach the border. the bus was full of english and we all ended up staying at the same guest house - overlooking the river and laos on the otherside of the water. one of the lads lived on brudenell mount at the same time as me in leeds, small world. needless to say drink followed and a movie or 2 - sin city is so strange.

the next day i was told that i had to leave at 7 so got up again at stupid o'clock but didnt leave till 9. went through passport control and then got on a dodgy ferry to cross into laos. then met a british couple of travellers who were catching the same boat as me. ended up waiting around for somemore people to arrive and we didnt get onto the 'boat' till around 12ish. i say 'boat' - think tea tray with a 16v engine strapped to the back and 7-8 backpackers wearing the worst lifejackets and riot gear head wear and packed in with are feet around are ears. the noise was crazy and you got wet and it just hammered along for 6 hours at 45 mph. with the guy dodging rubbish, rocks and tree litter along the way. it was fun but dangerous. the worst thing being the wake of other boats. it was the kinda ride you would pay to do for 15 minutes on a purpose built course then get out and think shit that was stupid. on a two occasions we came close, very close to turning it over and we all thought that we were going swimming! as a result this morning my back is black and blue from the bumping around and my arms and legs are sunburnt, badly.

we were relieved to arrive - thats for sure and it felt like we had achieved something special! the problem is that two boats set off form the border and only one made it to luang prabang last night. basically there is a boat of 6 irish lads missing on route and we dnt know if they broke down or if they crashed.

i quote the lonely planet ' a ride in these boats is a major thrill. for others its like riding on a giant runaway chainsaw and a nightmare that cant end soon enough. speedboats as well as being deafingly loud, kill and injure several people every year, as they frequency tend to flip and disintegrate on contact with any solid floating debris, which is plentiful'

nice!

a few general things about thailand that i have gathered so far - if you have a whistle you are held in high esteem, bikes and volvos are everywhere (penley car sales southeast asia expansion i can see it now) people pack cars and vans so that they are mini-mobile skyscrappers and thai lasses have no concept of love - if you can support them financially they were stay with you!

not sure what my plans are from this point - my visa doesnt start for vietnam till the first of july so i have got just over 2 weeks here and there seems alot of things to do and see so i will let you know a route at some point.

take it easy and if in laos take the slow boat !