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So, what to do with about two weeks left before our flights to Japan and inevitable entry into the world of work next month? Being in Bangkok, it was clear that whatever it was, it had to not be in Bangkok.

After briefly deciding to go back to Cambodia, we bought a guide book to Laos and went there instead! Now, Laos has a reputation for being very very cheap and very very awesome. Imagine our shock at arriving in Vientiane to find one of the most developed cities so far, and double rooms starting at around 10 dollars! After much stressing and searching for a decent room for a decent price, we checked into a complete dive for 11 bucks and watched ladybird-sized bedbugs resist our efforts to kill them and their families. The cracked and uneven plasterboard wall was held together with grime and gaffer tape. We have never, ever checked in to somewhere and then had to leave because it was so awful, so this was a total first! We checked into a place for twice the price and got a room eight or nine times better. Spirits were instantly lifted, a bottle of wine bought and put in our mini-fridge, the TV turned on, and a bumper-pack of Big Sheet (spicy nori) bought and eaten on the comfiest bed in SE Asia.

We spent a couple of days wandering around the really nice town of Vientiane, and drinking beer on the Mekong river before discovering the Scandinavian Bakery. Now I don't know if apple crumble and bread and butter pudding are Scandinavian or British or what they are, but this bakery made the best versions of both that we have ever eaten! Yes! Who cares if it is a bit more expensive than most countries, Laos is awesome!

Then what should happen other than the discovery of the best sushi in SE Asia?! Does life get any better?? Yes, they have good old fashioned British chocolate with none of that waxy stuff to stop it melting! And something laura had been hankering after for 5 months...hobnobs!!!!!!!!!!

So, the Footprint Guide sucks... it's actually, as if it were possible, worse than Lonely Planet. It's good in some ways, like it has about 100 places to stay listed, which stops the tendancy of a few guest houses getting all the business because they're in the guide book, but its really disorganised and complicated. Will the world ever offer the perfect guidebook??!

Speaking of the guidebook, as we made our decision on where to go next, a small wad of marijuana fell from its pages! That confirms Laos as a spliffed out hippy state, I guess, not that we smoked any whilst there. But the next stop on our trip was supposed to be the cool place to be - Vang Vien, a small town on the Mekong where you can float peacefully down the river on an inner-tube, stopping at little bars along the way for a drink.

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