Getting back on track

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So yeh, after our Muang Sing adventures, we attempted (note the choice of word) to get on our way to meet Shell in Luang Prabang. WE had made a plan to meet up on the saturday, judt as aback up in case normal forms of communication failed us. Which they did. unfortunately transport failed us as well, and instead of getting to the Mekong in pak beng where we would get the boat to Luang prabang, we ended up, after several increasingly painful journeys, in Muang Hong. which is pretty much nowhere. Stuck as we were we found a guesthouse with great difficultly as noone spoke any english, and decided to get up unfeasibly early to try and figure out our next journey. We got the smallest room in the world... with bathroom, but no running water. We let them off though when they invited us to their family party! We were fed, given booze, and attempted to communicate with one another. Afetr a while they insisted we go outside, away fro the mums and children, and hang with the 'youth'. Now, it was nice of course, and they were all friendly enough... but you know when you go to a party, and you son't know anyone, and its a bit awkward... well, add to that everyone at least 8 years younger than you, and a prtetty concrete language barrier. We triued... but we soon retired. Using the feeble excuse that i had to stand up away from the crowd to have a cigarette, and then sneaking off when noone was looking. No easy feat when every boy there with any english words to there name tried to make the ol' chit chat with us. 'whats your name?' 'where you from?' ' are you married?' was about the size it. the latter being eveyone's favouroite question.

Anyway, long stort short, we got to pak beng the next day (hoorah!) sadly, we missed the boat by a matter of minutes, and had to stay over. unfortunately, there is no internet in pak beng, and our attempts at using phones failed horribly, so we couldn't let shell know of our delay. just hung around all day, checking out the mekong... i had nap, which was lovely, and that night we sampled our first lao lao whiskey. Free, but ultimately horrible. I pulled my tequila face, as i was to do everytime we had it.

At last, the next morning, we got on the boat to laung Prabang - baguette pack lunches in hand., and only 6 days later than originally planned. Lovely day! i mean the mekong is impressive in itself, and the surroundings are beautiful - massive tree covered cliffs, sun shining, you know what i'm saying. i sat next to a german called dirk. who was a little odd to be honest, but you know, in a way that can be funny if you're in the right mood. and thankfully i was!. So we sailed all day long... stopping only for a brief breakdown, and for our driver to purchase some kind of wombat type creature from a villager.

The day was considered a thorough success when soon after arriving in Luang Prabang, i spotted a cafe showing 'the last king of scotland', and my spidey sense told me shell would be inside. Cheers all round! Good film as well, in case you've not seen it yet.

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