Sickness Hits Nick

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Yeah Nick is sick. Thought I'd get out and munch on a egg and sausage baguette whilst he is ill in the room. We caught a bus down from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng yesterday, which involved going through a part of the road which has "banditry problems". Nick was quite alarmed when a man with an AK47 got on the bus, but he seemed to be our guardian angel, occassionally pointing it out the window at random objects.
Another peculiar feature of the bus was that when it stopped at local villages, it was swarmed with women selling tree roots and grass. They attacked the bus, shoved the grass through the window, and exacted money out of locals. The locals were dead chuffed with deals they got on the dead plants.


Vang Vieng is in the middle of nowhere. We're surrounded by towering limestone cliffs, and it feels like Las Vegas of Laos. Neon light light up the bamboo huts which sell Lao-Lao, a firery sundowning hell raising shot. When Nick get's better we're gonna rent some Tractor tyres from an old man and float down the river. Apparently it's the thing to do in this town. Vang Vieng is packed with bars that have beds. You go in the bar, order a beer and lay on a bed and watch Friends. It's bizarre. We walked up the main road to see hundreds of people laying down under the night sky watching big Friends screens.

Anyhow not too many Beer Lao's for us tonight.

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