Posing with monks

Arriving back in Hanoi from Halong Bay, I thought I would have some time to do a little shopping and errands before I met up with my last Intrepid tour. Walking over to the hotel, I was told that my Intrepid group were just there out front. I met the tour guide, Bom, from Thailand, who told me we had a train reservation and we were on our way there. I literally arrived in the nick of time, 5 minutes later, I would have been left behind!

On the train I got to meet some of the group over card games on the 6 hour journey to the Vietnam/Lao border. Many locals would stand over us intently and watch the confusing game of Killer. There were 12 in the group this time, with 2 more to meet the next day. This time adding to the usual England and Aussie mix, were 2 Danish (Denmark if you are wondering, not pastries)..I was by far the oldest (!) in the group this time!

Laos is a small, mountainous, land-locked country between Vietnam and Thailand. It was part of Indochina during the French rule. The capital of Vientiane still has much colonial architecture and nice wide streets. The city is quite walkable and we were lucky to find a great European Bakery with real coffee and cakes! Latte in Laos, who knew?

As the rainy season was still upon us, and I donated my umbrella to a beggar back in Delhi, I was thinking to buy a poncho. I stopped in a store called Pimphone and found a children's poncho. The man tried to tell me it was too small, and as I opened it up, I laughed because it was huge! It was pouring, so I put it on straight away. I went with the bright green. After about 5 minutes, one of the other girls wanted one. Within the hour and still raining, 3 other girls got ponchos as well. The remaining member of our group, Toby, complete with black umbrella, decided to act as the head of his all-girl 'team poncho', in assorted colors of green, blue and silver. People were really cracking up as we walked down the street.. Laughing aside, it has been the best purchase of my entire trip so far! It rained so much over the next 10 days and Team Poncho was dry while everyone else was wet and complaining!

Braving the rain, the 6 of us made a side trip to see a Buddhist temple surrounded by many stone sculptures of Hindu and Buddhist origin. There were 3 monks hanging around and we were talking with them. One asked me if I had a boyfriend, and when I said no, he asked me if I wanted one. I told him he was not a very good monk. As I found out later, many boys continue as a monk because that is the only way to get a decent education, and in reality, should still be following the rules, even if that isn't their choice. I was a little put off with the 'monks' who just wanted to have their photos taken with us, and practice their flirting in English, but I soon got over it and taught the monk all about the Hindu statues (things he should already know).

Our next stop was Vang Vieng, just along the Mekong river. The entire group went tubing for half a day and it was a blast. Along the river, there are 5 or so bars, so you float from bar to bar all day long with all the other tourists! Even the rain decided to pause for a while so we could enjoy the lush green mountain views. Vang Vieng is known as a party town, and with all the 20-somethings in my group, I found myself doing shots like I was back in college again!! The next day a few of us were a bit cross-eyed..we spent hours recovering by sipping coffee and eating yummy pancakes, watching DVD's on the cushy pillows, safely tucked away from the pouring rain.

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