Granny bikes

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Dear Blog,

I'm on a mission to get up to date so no beating around the bush today.

So back in Vientiane again, which felt good to be back especailly as I had been missing the Scandinavain coffee shop that we seemed to have frequented on rather a regular basis. Spent the day trying to organise my cambodian visa...hired granny bikes and cycled the few km out to the embassy only to find that it had shut for lunch, so cycled all the way back in to town and then cycled out again only to be told that we had to have our passports in before lunch. Great. All that cycling in the midday heat for nothing. Went and looked around the museum which had a fine collection of Bhudda's (which are really cool..in fact I bought one last time I was here) and ended up chatting to two monks about the meaning of life and whether I was married or not?! and why I wans't married. V bizzare, but they were so sweet and sincere.

Sat on the bank of the Mekong watching the sunset, drinking lao lao. Laos people love you if you drink it.
Spent the next day cycling to sort out my visa on the crappest bike yet. The brakes didnt work, the seat kept flipping up and the back tire was practically flat. Spent the aft picking up a few more bits and bobs at the market. My bartering is much improved now that I honestly don't want or need to buy anything else.

Caught the overnight 'king of bus' to Pakse which was amazing. A double decker with neon blue and pink lights at the back and an engine that you could see. Excellent leg room and a chair that reclined almost fully. Got to pakse quite refreshed all in all but felt a bit sorry for alex who had not slept all night due to a leaky air conditioning unit above her head that kept randomly dripping chinese torchure esque on her all night.

Spent the day doing nothing apart from eat and email and read before catching a slow boat the next day to Champasak, a small village near some Khmer ruins that were supposed to be worth a visit. Stayed in a lovely guest house on the river, and spent the afternoon cycling out to the ruins. It was a long 10km. All the villagers were so friendly though, all shouyting Sabaidi to us, which means 'hello', not 'get off my land' in case you were wondering. Looked around the ruins, got bitten to death by mozzies and cycled back. God I am getting so much exercise at the moment.

Have to leave it there, my eyelids are drooping.

Goodnight x

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