Luang Prabang, 21-03-2008. Walking around Prabang centre last night, I got dragged into what apperently was the Isreali House in Luang Prabang. A bit like the Holland House during world soccer I guess. A party is in full swing, a glass with several shots of whiskey is pushed into my willing hands. Nobody is sober any more in this place, even the children look intoxicated. Everybody wants to say hello, they all wanna know where I'm from, my name, my nationality. More shots of Red Label follow and I'm getting quite drunk. I say "Lachraim" - cheers in Hebrew, the only Hebrew word I know thanks to Frank and Harry back home in Amsterdam - to whoever wants to hear it and secretly wonder whether these guys are on a break from killing innocent Palestinians Back ... read more

Vang Vieng, 19-03-2008. Having breakfast at one of the restaurants facing the Nam Song river, I meet this this really gorgeous Thai lady, her english is excelent, she tells me she is a tour-guide for Russian tourist groups and that she lives in Bangkok. I tell her a bit about my own life, the twenty-odd times I've come to Thailand, I practise my nit noi Thai on her and tell her about my life in Amsterdam. Slowly but with a certain grace we warm up to each other. Things between us are getting better and better. In Laos sexual relationships between Lao citizens and farangs are prohibited by law but she is Thai so she could be a great substitute for a local lady-friend. Just then her Aussie boy-friend turns up , dressed in shorts and ... read more

Vang Vieng, 18--03-2008. One of the main attractions in Vang Vieng - apart from enjoying typical Lao tranquil village life and admiring the strangely shaped karst stone formations all around Vang Vieng - is tubing down the Nam Song river. The deal goes like this; you pay 40.000 Kip down at the old market, you get a tractor tyre tube, they bring you by Tuk Tuk some distance up river and down river you float for 4/5 hours surrounded by the stunningly beautifull limestone karst terrain. The locals have made things even more enjoyable for you with a shitload of noisy bars along the route where you can take a break from tubing and get back to late to return the tube - fine is 2 dollar american, but then the american buck is shit these ... read more

Vang Vieng, same day. I leave Vietianne around 10.30 h. in the morning by - as a like to call it - a local chicken bus, no more VIP airco busses with built-in toilet and comfortable reclining seats as they are common these days in Thailand. Just an old rusty bus with the locals in ragged but clean clothes and often transporting their animals with them, hence the nickname "chicken bus". Slowly the bus winds it way up into the Lao hills passing small hilltribe villages, lush forests and great views of the plains below. It's only a 153 km. to Vang Vieng but the trip nonetheless takes a full thre and half hours on wooden uncomfortable seats with frequent stops because the driver needs a pee or a smoke or both. I feel like I'm ... read more

Vietianne, 15-03-2008. Having a big Beer Lao in front of the Mekong river together with a frenchman - I sold him a game so the beer was on his bill - I got approached by a young local lady, Luna, 24 years old, who tried her best to chat me up, trying hard to get me horny enough to take her home. 500 hundert baht for a short time or, preferably, a long time for a mere 100 baht. This is familiar territory for me, I know this world inside out. Maybe not the Lao scene, but isn't this mad scene the same the third world over. Farang men drinking cold local beer outside while the local ladies who, no doubt, have one or more kids back home being looked after by grandma, do their best ... read more