Thailand Take 2

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What an exciting few weeks. As some of you may be aware we had a little problem with money for a short while but despite this i assure you we kept perfectly healthy and didn't run into any serious trouble. It did however significantly affect where we went in Laos and in close to a month we have visited only 3 places putting us severely behind schedule.

Our first stop Vientiane, the capital of Laos proved to be rather dull with nothing particularly exciting to see bar something very similar to the arc de triomphe in Paris and Laos' most important Stupa. It was however rather prettily placed in an arc of the Mekong River.

Our next stop was Vang Vieng where we ran out of money but probably the funnest place in the world. Full of youngsters it is either loved or hated by tourists. Set on the bank of a river this tiny town is surrounded by mystical mountains shrouded in mist, a truly beautiful setting. Despite this it is still the number one drinking spot in Laos. Its most famous past time is 'tubing', easily the most fun i have ever had: you sit in a large inflated inner tube or donut and float down the river for about 6km with the most amazing scenery all around you. On the way you are pulled in by locals handing you a long bamboo stick to hold and dragged to a shack of a bar. The fun comes in the attractions with everything from swings to slides to ziplines and jumping points, volleyball courts and copius amounts of mud fighting. It would of course never be allowed in the UK as people get progressively more intoxicated their daringness increases as does the injuries, some of which were very bad. Luckily though Paul and i managed to get away with a few minor cuts and bruises.

This is by no means the only thing in Vang Vieng to get up to, they also have amazing caves, one of which is 400m long and without a guide and one measly wind up torch between 4 people we got rather lost in the pitch black. there is also rock climbing and kayaking but unfortunately we never got round to doing this.

Although we stayed for almost 3 weeks i have no regrets, its constant fun and you get to know the locals meaning free food or at least discounted and loads of free alcohol from the westerners who work at the bars.

Having finally left Vang Vieng we are now in Luang Prabang but have no time to spend and so are off on a gruelling journey to the north of Thailand meaning we have to skip the whole of Northern Laos which is a real shame. The journey is going to be a 16 hour bus journey on very poor windy roads to the Thai border where we have to wait for a number of hours before we can take a ferry across and then a further 6 hours by bus until we reach Chang Mai but almost back on track.

Luang Prabang along with the rest of Laos is a really beautiful place with an excellent blend of French and Asian architecture making it a truly spectacular place, again on the river. I'm sure if we had the time i would really fall in love with it but instead i leave feeling pleasantly delighted.

Seeing as we are goinjg to be extremely busy now until we fly from Bangkok to Hong Kong 0n the 26th for the final leg of our trip i may not have time to write again before Hong Kong but i will see what i can do.

Hope all is well

Ali

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