The Big Chill!

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Phew... we made it here to Laos, after an interesting flight with Lao Airlines! The plane actually appeared to be in good nick and the wings seemed to be bolted well on to the fuselage! But, we couldn't work out if the crew had forgotten to do the safety demonstration or there just wasn't one! Needless to say we were elated to get our feet back on terra firma without any hitches!

We arrived in Vientaine the capital to find baguettes, crepes and wine! The French departed Laos in the 50's but thier influence still runs strong throughout Laos' cities. We only spent a short time in Vientaine as there wasn't very much to see. It was very low rise and had hardly any traffic, which we found very eerie after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. It seemed like a quiet town rather than a capital city. But Laos is a place to chill out, even in the capital!!

From Vientaine we headed 100k further north to the town of Vang Vieng. An amazing place with views to die for! Huge limestone kasts dotted the landscape set alongside the Nam Xong river. Vang Vieng is known in Laos for white water rafting, caving and most famously tubing. Tubing basically involves you floating down the river sitting in a huge tractor inner tube, stopping off every now and then to grab a bottle of beer Lao and to do some narley jumps! The first day we got there the weather was fantastic, glorious sunshine. Unfortunately our luck didn't last long and on the second day it started raining and didn't stop for 3 days and 3 nights! We did manage to get an afternoon of tubing in the rain! The beer Lao made it so much better though! Madly we bumped into Jo Whittaker (Ed Dutton's former PA!) and swapped tavelling stories over ... yes you've guessed it.... beer Lao!

We decided that as we no longer had any dry clothes left, to move another 100k further north to Luang Prabang. The bus journey was 6 hours through the Luang Prabang Mountains. To say the least it was slighty hair raising going at break-neck pace round hairpin bends but the views were amazing. The mountains were covered in lush forests with the occasional hut precariously built on to side of the steep mountain edge. Over here it's not traffic jams that hinder the motorist, it's herds of cows aimlessly wandering the main highway, dogs taking a nap in the middle of the road and running out of asphalt!

In Luang Prabang you can easily forget that you're in Laos at all. The French architecture and food makes you feel that you could be in the middle of France! We took a 2 hour slow boat trip down the Mekong to visit the Pak Ou Cave, which contains hundreds of buddah statues that have either been damaged or have been superceeded by a new one. We thought it was a bit of a waste of time, but at least we can say we've seen it! We also met up with some American girls, a lad from Leeds and a group of Lads from London and spent an afternoon at the Kuang Si Waterfall - swimming in the crystal clear pools, rope swinging and being eaten alive by the mosquitos!

As it's low season in Laos at the moment, accommodation is going cheap, so Martin and I decided to take advantage and barter our way in to one of Laos' poshest boutique hotels! Yes I know it didn't take us long to splash out on a bit of luxury, but we couldn't resist! We've had to drag ourselves away from the pool and the Gin and Tonics to gloat!!! We're planning to 'posh it up' for another few days then heading to Chang Mai in the north of Thailand and making our way south, depending on the flood situation. We'll keep you posted!

Until the next time ........

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