Bangkok, the bus from hell and Laos

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Hi everyone, it's been a few days since I gave you an update and a lot has happened so I'll try not to ramble on too much (you can skip to the interesting bits...I'll never know)

So I spent a couple of days in Nap Park Hostel Bangkok (recommended if anyone is heading here any time soon) it was really sociable and I quickly latched on to a few people and befriended them! I particularly got on with Charlie and Rosie a brother and sister from Essex who are so funny and I get on really well with them. Unfortunately the flooding situation got quite bad around Bangkok and in Cambodia and alot of the buses and trains to Cambodia were suspended. I decided it wasn't worth the risk getting stranded anywhere so Charlie and Rosie invited me to come to Laos with them (i.e. reversing my planned route).

The trip to Laos via night bus was one of those horrendous experiences that you can only laugh about afterward. We were promised a luxury bus with reclining chairs....the reality was somewhat different! They turned off the electricity for the whole 14 hr bus ride so I had to read my book by light of i-phone! The toilet remained locked for 10 hours of the journey for no particular reason, and air conditioning?? There was of course none. Anyway 14 hours later, after eating only crisps and a few sips of water we arrived in Vientianne and stayed in hostel called Mixay. It was a pretty good hostel although they put us in the attic accessible by step ladder, and with a 20kg backpack after the journey from hell, it nearly finished me off!

Vientianne wasn't too exciting, luckily we arrived on the day of a festival so it was buzzing a bit more than usual. Day 1 we hired bikes and took ourselves on a little tour of all temples. We went to a bar and sampled some of the Laos beer - for educational purposes of course....I made an unusual friend in the form of a yellow gecko who decided it would be funny to drop from the ceiling onto my head. The stupid thing got its little feet stuck in my hair and I was flapping around hysterically much to the amusement of the group we were with, and everyone else in the bar. Embarrassing much?

In the evening we joined the locals at the festival. After shaking some moves to some random laos music mixed with Britney Spears and Beyonce we got roped into a dance off with a mad group of Laos people. Was hilarious, I'm not sure if they were laughing at us or with us but if you cant beat them join them I say! We steered clear of Laos street food. I've seen hundreds of stalls and they all seem to sell the same weird combinations of either fermented egg (complete with dead baby chick inside) on a stick, or whole squashed chicken on a stick, or heavily salted fish on a string. Everything seems to come on a stick or dangling from string.

After we got out visas for Vietnam we got a mini bus to Vang Vieng along with an American called Alana and a Dutch girl called Evelyn. The bus was much better but the roads were so much worse. I will never complain about speed bumps again.

Vang Vieng is in a stunning valley, the river is lined with enormous hills. We found some rooms in a guest house called Champau Laos which is recommended by Lonely Planet. I had all good intentions of staying in a basic tree house, being at one with nature....well after a few days in Asia I have decided that I am quite happy not being at one with nature...nature seems to like me a little too much (mozzie bites, hit in face by bat - too traumatic to go into too much detail :-S not to mention the original incident of lizard in hair) so we are staying in a rather rustic character filled guest house with wooden rooms and lots of palm trees and free bananas...much more my cup of tea! There is also incidentely free tea - sold

Yesterday myself, Charlie, Rosie. Alana and a few randoms went tubing. It was stunning floating along the river in a rubber ring, soaking up the scenery and stopping off for the occasional beer (Mum and Dad I promise I was very sensible!!) but the water was murky to say the least and i'm pretty sure I got pink eye from it. Worth it though.

Today is a day of rest... we have booked a tour tomorrow, it's going to be pretty active so need to conserve my strength! We are doing some trekking, kayaking and cycling to see some of the beautiful cave formations around the area. Really looking forward to it.

Then my plan I think is to get the bus to Luang Prabang (9 hours on bumpy mini bus again) and explore that area for maybe a week. Unfortunately I'm not going to have time to do the Gibbon Experience, but with my track record with wild animals here, that's probably for the best! I'm also going to chicken out of the 22 hour bus ride to Hanoi (Vietnam), I've heard some horror stories about the bus companies, so I would rather spend the 100 quid on a flight to be safe and not lose a day (it's only an hr by plane).

Anyway, I have garbled on for far too long.....

Hope everyone's well, I am missing you all lots but I'm having a great time, with the exception of my gammy eye.

Lots of love xxx

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Comments

[Jules]

Em, I've just got onto your travel blog, loving it so far! Gald you are having so much fun and getting to know the local wildlife, haha! Luang Prabang is a lovely city, quite chilled, and pretty, so hope you enjoy it :) My memory of being there is having an elephant ride, and finding a lush little coffee shop that did awesome baguettes. Lots of love, Jules xxx