Loas/Cambodia....

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Sabadee motherfunkers.....

sorry for being long updating this thing!

So, my last post was from Pai, i'm now in Cambodia (Phnom penn) but i've spent the last 3 and a half weeks travelling through Loas....so here's a rough summary from memory....

spent 2 days on a boat getting from the border of thailand into laos, which was painfull and stupidly overcrowded at the best of times...I shared the journey with many random animals (including a live pig, in a bag) being transported with us during the 2 days...i also met the most insane person i've ever had the unfortunate luck to meet (who thought he was the prophet 'mohamad', and thought that he had cured the world of aids, and that he had conceived an elephant via osmosis....we also learnt that he had previously been kicked out of Loas for running into a buddist temple and smashing the head off of a Budda. Stay away from Yabba aka crystal meth, children...its no good)....

met a wicked group of people on the boat who i ended up spending the next 2 weeks travelling with....

So got into loas, spent the first 5 nights in Luang Probang, which was awesome - it felt like being in a french town from the early 19th century...really beautiful architecture and awesome temples....spent most nights hanging out and drinking in bars (i've been drinking Lao lao, which is the homemade loas whiskey - basically the same as moonshine)....Also got to witness a monk procession at 6 am where all the local monks (about 300 of them) walk towards the mekong river and do various monk based activities....

also had a great conversation with a monk one evening, telling us about why he is a monk etc etc etc....

so after 5 days, we headed to Vang Viene, where i spent the next 7 nights....Vang Viene is a party town, where the local thing to do it go Tubing (go to youtube and type 'Tubing Loas' and you should get an idea of it)....basically you float down the mekong river in the innertubes of truck tires, where you pass loads of homemade bars that pull you in, and you then get wasted and swing off of homemade swings, slides and ziplines (which are stupidly high - maybe 10 - 12 meters above the water). Me and my mate Oli managed to do synchronised backflips off of the zipline, which was the perfect way to get clean after playing 'mud volleyball'.

So after 7 nights of getting drunk and doing stupid shit (the 45 minute drunk cycle home in pitch black, or riding a motorbike through a river and thinking i had to pay 600 dollars to fix the engine being perhaps the peak of my stupidity), i went to vientiene (the capital of loas). Rather than get a bus all the way there we signed up for an excursion that allows you to Canoe some of the way there, and bus the rest, so we canoed for about 8km of the journey and survived 2 rapids (we were one of the 2 canoes which didnt flip - out of a fleet of around 10)....

Veintiene sucked. Decided to head to Cambodia but wasnt sure if i should face the 15 hr bus ride to South Loas or instead go back to Thailand and then go to Cambodia via Bangkok. I flipped a coin and fate told me to go to South Loas. So i did. With the aid of Valium, the journey flew by, and before i knew it, i was entering the '4000 islands'.

4000 islands is where the Mekong River seperates and creates '4000 islands'. I stayed on 3 of them. Planned to spend about 3 nights there, but that ended up being extended to 9 as it was FUCKING PARADISE.

Spent 9 nights living in a hut which was overhanging the river, complete with hammocks, free weed and a man who delivers freshly baked cakes every evening, all at the cost of just over 1 quid a night. Loas loas (the local whiskey) was also 70p for a liter and a half bottle. Also ate BBQ frog and saw some amazing waterfalls.

Eventually managed to get the motivation to leave and head to Cambodia (where i am now)... Arrived here yesterday after a 16 hr journey, and its seriously weird being back in a city (after not having any hassle for the last 3.5 weeks)...

the plan now is to spend a few nights here (theres a big water festival going on at the moment) before going to siam reap to see Angkor wat...An option i have while im here is to go to a shooting range to fire various guns, where i will also have the option of shooting (or throwing grenades, if i so please) at cows!!!!

Word on the street is that for 1000 dollars i can shoot an orphan!

Speaking of orphans, i plan to volenteer in an orphanage for one or 2 weeks while im in cambodia.

Anyways, i'm going to go.....a dudes just walked in on the computer next to me wearing the most ridiculous Bob marley trousers that look like MC hammer style pants....

Oh, and i have a full beard (more so that i ever have before)....

i dropped off 3 rolls of Lomo photos today and they will be back 2mro, so keep an eye on my facebook for some Loas photos in the next few days....

Hope you are all doing well, and if any of you (mum/dad) have been trying to call, my phone hasnt had reception and now that i'm in cambodia it doesnt work at all, but worry not, i am fine!

speak to you soon and hopefully i wont be as long in updating this next time....

Adios...

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