Abandoning the number headings 'cause it's too hard to remember what day it is. Deb last wrote about our final day in Chiang Mai, next we spent 9 hours on a bus heading to the north until we hit the Mekong river which at this location forms a border with Laos. We went through the usual customs & immigration and caught a ferry (small leaky dinghy) across in the rain. On the Laos side was a small border town with a few small hostels & cafes and many backpackers. That night we found a cafe on the river and had a [View Full Entry]

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There are a couple of things I neglected to mention in yesterday's motorbike blog: * We road 677km in 5 days, 130km on dirt (Patrick now considers himself a dirtbike champion) * Our top speed was 105km, which we only reached on the last day after filling up with Shell fuel * The only time we came close to hitting anything was when a little pig ran out in front of us and only veered at the very last minute We are now in Vientiane after our overnight bus trip. The bus was a sleeper, but because we bought our ticket [View Full Entry]

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So we did arrive, eventually. Whenever you encounter another traveler who's just come from Laos, they always go on at length about Vang Vieng. The legacy of Vang Vieng chased me everywhere, even when I was in Australia! And yet somehow, I couldn't figure out what was so great about it. By all accounts it was a place to get drunk, high, and watch Friends or Family Guy. In the daytime you went down the Mekong River in an inflatable tube and were roped in by various "bars," or little shacks on the riverbank selling cheap drink. I mean, getting drunk [View Full Entry]

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Sabedi all, If someone from Laos tells you a bus will take 8 hours (then smiles and says "probably less") expect a 17 hour trip. That's my advice. We left the capital Vientiane for our short journey up north.. only to be faced with flooded roads, mud slides and endless problems with something on the bus called "the &^#$%& radiator".. By about 1/2 way there, Ari and I were having the time of our lives.. We'd met everyone from the bus, knew their family history and blood types and were now taking bets on which following vehicle would make it pass [View Full Entry]

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OK - I have just spent half an hour writing this blog out TWICE only for it to dissapear on me TWICE. So , third time lucky. We arrived in Vientiene yesterday - no tubing in Vang Vieng , torrential rain every day. Vientiene is the capital and much more obviously a relic to French colonisation than the other places we've been in Laos. All street signs and most shop signs are in both Laos and French and there are a lot of petit-chateau style buildings around. Baguettes and Croissants are abundant but that is true of Laos in general. It's [View Full Entry]

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May 20, 2008 - May 31, 2008 After the Gibbon Experience, we planned to head south to Luang Prabang (LP), then Vang Viang (VV) and finally Vientiane before moving on to Vietnam. In first leg of the journey, we had three choices about how we were going to get to LP and none of them sounded all that good: 1) The slow boat - a two day journey down river in a very basic and uncomfortable boat; 2) A 15 hour bus trip through the mountains and this is if all goes well ... it often doesn't; and 3) The Fast [View Full Entry]

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i arrived at the jetty on the mainland after catchin a mini van from Vientienne and changing at Pakse, this change was where the problem started. it worked out that when we changed minivans my bag was loaded first but i was last to get on and ended up not havin a seat, instead of unloading 10 other bags to get to mine it made more sense to just jump in the other minivan and collect my bag at the other end........ i thought. a girl that i had just met promised she would look after it for me, not expecting [View Full Entry]

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Headed over to Chaing Kong so we could get in to Laos. It took five hours and it was absolutely pissing it down (not that it mattered as we were in a bus). Got to the border about 730 the next morning and crossed over in to huay xai (its pretty much 'how say'). Pretty much spent the next day and half on a boat stopping at a few villages and the cave of a 1000 Buddhas. Stopped over night in Pak Beng . Arrived yesterday in Luang prabang. little note... Going to get Lisa to chop my hair of because [View Full Entry]

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Hello hello! Tout d'abord desole pour le silence d'une semaine mais il semble que le serveur soit allergique a nos blagues a 2 balles. Apres avoir ecrit 4X le meme blog, on devenait fou, mais il semble que les choses soient rentres dans l'ordre. Bref. On a passe les derniers jours dans une petite ville vietnamienne, Nin Binh, au milieu d'un site comparable a la baie d'Along mais sur terre, baigne par des rizieres. Histoire de decouvrir cet endroit par nous meme, on se loue un petite moto a l'hotel : le patron est tres sympa et super serviable, mais nous [View Full Entry]

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hello all, we arrived in vang vieng 2 days ago but haven't got to do any tubing yet. it rained very heavily from wednesday afternoon until friday morning, the water level of the river rose by a metre so they're not letting anyone do it at the moment. it's sunny at the moment so hopefully if there's no rain for a while we'll get to it before we leave. there were a few mudslides on the journey from luang prapang to here but we got through easily enough. we met a few irish guys and an english couple who travelled yesterday [View Full Entry]

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