Meandering Down the Mekong

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Again, I feel this is more of a photo story than a wordy one but you deserve a little spiel.

The journey was one of attrition. It was two days on a boat - a slow one - and very little padding under arse. The two days of 7 or 8 hours a day were broken in two by a stay at a small villiage called Pakbeng which at first appeared quaint. I supose it was, although the standard of accommodation we were conned into was rough.

Their first error was to tout rooms on the boat (after we'd paid for ours before leaving) at a cheaper rate than we'd paid - leave it we thought. Then we got to the pit, or room as they called it, and it was bad. Now I realise this is sounding like a moan list - so to finish; it smelled, it was dirty, Gill was woken in the night by someone or something rattling the doors loudly, and we found mouse/rat droppings on the floor in the morning. Oh, and the power went off at 10 pm - fine if they'd have TOLD US.

The rest of the trip was mostly a case of mind over matter - instilling into the mind that the pain from the now bare wooden seat didn't matter. The boat mingled well, a testement to this being that we travelled together for over a week following this.

Again, the pictures tell a better story but we feel the pictures of the monkey may need explanation: After it was first spotted the comotion spread outward from the first spotters. A large group formed but still couldn't fathom what was going on. The thing he had was white and so didn't look particularly simeon to us. But shortly after you start to catch on, just as the local was hacking its head off!

We would like to go on record that we niether condone, nor condemn this action but simply say - each mad monkey killer to his own. (And sadly monkeys were harmed during the making of this show).

On Next Weeks Show:

We arrived later that day, with no feeling from the waist down, in Luang Prabang. We headed off on mass, knocking cyclists to the ground if they got in our way, to race for the best guest houses..........

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