Malaria tablets can give you some weird dreams but after a lack of sleep, drunken nights and a 2-day trek. The dreams got weirder. It is like I’m 15 again. Most of them I can’t remember and wake up the next day or the middle of the night and say “What the hell was that all about”. There are some nightmares too. But there’s that one girl who always turns up. She’s a hottie! Who looks a bit like that girl in the latest Batman movie but not her. What’s really annoying is that one of the dreams (that I can [View Full Entry]

---

---

Sunday the 30th I took a tuk-tuk to changmai airport and caught my flight out of Thailand to Luang Prabang in the north west of Laos. Luang Prabang is situated in the middle of jungle covered mountains on the Mekong river. I got off the plane and the first think I realised was I didnt have enough money to buy my visa so I had to borrow a couple of dollars of a scottish couple that were on the plane with me. I got a taxi into the city, found myself a guest house and took a stroll around. The city [View Full Entry]

---

---

Vang Vieng and Hannah's Birth I've been told off for putting the place we're in rather than the place i'm writing about at the top of the blog, so even though we're in Hanoi (Vietnam) this blog is about Vang Vieng in Laos. Vang Vieng is about as laid back as it gets. The place is full of cafes covered in cushions where you can while away the hours watching re-runs of Friends or Family Guy, slightly bizarre at first, and it did get a little irritating after 3 days of being unable to escape the friends theme tune! That said, [View Full Entry]

---

---

First...note I finally got some photos up, and added them to older posts as well. Where last I left you, I had just arrived in the small town of Pai. I spent a few days there, and did what most people do there...practically nothing. It is a smaller town and has the vibe of Phish lot (lots of dreadlocks, ganja, and people who've taken months off from the "real world"). Needless to say, I enjoyed my time there. I also saw my first monkey in Pai...though he was being walked on a leash and seemed to be a bit confused (he [View Full Entry]

---

---

After a day of wandering around Luang Prabang, we took an overgrown path at the end of the peninsula that led down to the Nam Khan (Nam means water in Lao and Thai, or river, so saying the Nam Khan is like saying the Khan River). The mud on the banks was cracked like honeycomb and there was much activity on the river: men and children on the opposite banks fishing with nets, small boats chugging home after fishing expeditions, and young monks building the beginnings of a bridge. The piers made to support the bridge had already been constructed, and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Long ago, two great gourds grew at Meuang Thaeng (now Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam). As the gourds grew in size, sounds could be heard from inside their thick rinds. Khun, divine rulers, pierced the skin of one of the gourds with a red-hot poker, and out of the charred hole poured the dark-skinned Lao Thoeng (Upland Lao). The khun employed a knife to slice a hole in the other gourd, through which marched the lighter-skinned Tai-Lao (Lowland Lao). The gods sent Khun Borom to rule over both peoples, during which time he had seven sons. Khun Borom sent these sons [View Full Entry]

---

---

so I finally decided it was time to leave Bangkok, and as i write from my room in vientien in laos,it seems that it was the right time given the political unrest in bangkok at the moment, although you cant tell from the tourist areas of the city. Now for those who want to go to laos for a visa run I would not recommend it after the struggle today has been. The trip started well with the cab ride to hualumpung train staion seeing countless numbers of police and ambulance no doubt on there way to the airport, once I [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello again everyone, Our spontaneous detour to Laos was quite possibly the best decision we could have ever made, as the country is beautfiul and quiet, yet rich with stunning landscapes and experiential opportunities centred around the Mekong Delta running through the middle of it. Our adventure started after hearing the Bangkok airport news and we quickly caught an overnight train to the Laos border. The train would have been a wonderful experience, if it wasn't for the man sleeping in the bunk underneath me (who wasn't Albert!) who generated such noises (you couldn't even call i [View Full Entry]

---

---

Through some sort of miracle ben woke up at 7:40am, which saved us from missing our 8am bus to go white water kayaking for the day. Although i dont have any pictures from on the kayak, its also a miracle the my camera still works. While we were on the river my camera was tucked inside a waterproof bag attached to the back of my kayak. As we approached our first set of rapids i just kind figured stuff would work itself out and the ride would just be a little bumpy...wrong. we completely ate it and capsized our boat while [View Full Entry]

---

---

feels like a long time since my last blog most of my time since the last one has been spent in Laos and we have had such a great time in this country. we arrived in the capital vientiane from a over nite train from bangkok no problem crossing the border this time. Arriving in the capital was very different from any other capital we have been to so far, their was hardly any traffic and no buildings over 7 stories high it was very calm and quiet for a capital city which was nice. we spent our time here just [View Full Entry]

---

---