Laos Contd.

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Sun. 30th. April.
Before it gets too hot we climb 300 steps to the temple and marvel at the view. We really are overwhelmed by the beauty of such a relatively unknown country. If only we hadn't wasted time in New Zealand, we would have stayed here a lot longer. The travel agent we find to book our flight to Siem Reap accommodatingly changes all our odd foreign currencies for Laos money, so that's made Jim's wallet a lot lighter. We buy our lunch from 2 little girls at the market, then amble round town for the rest of the day, soaking up the atmosphere and the feel good factor. Another first class local meal, slightly spoiled by all the flying things on the balcony, and then a quick check of the bedroom for any "visitors", and then collapse into bed!

Mon. 1st. May.
Another day, another journey. This one is a respectable pick-up time of 07:30, to take us to catch the bus to Vang Viang. Jim and the tuk tuk driver can't arouse the next pick-up, so maybe they're still there. We paid for a VIP bus, and that's what it said on the front, but we've got our doubts. It didn't help matters when the driver became addicted to his horn. All this paled into insignificance when we started the white knuckle ride over the hills and saw the beautiful countryside before us. The roads were bad, and it's recommended to close your eyes at the bends, but we'd do it all again.... wonderful. The villages we passed were from the middle ages, but the bare soil around the huts was kept cleaner than our garden paths. We haven't seen many baby Beths but they are probably sleeping, after keeping their Mum and Dad up all night, hey Mark! There wre lots of little Gilberts playing under the huts and chickens coming out of "the front door" to mix with the huge black pigs, running free with their piglets. The bubble burst when we arrived at Vang Viang bus station and got a tuk tuk into town. First impressions were that a bomb had hit it, but we now realise that the whole town was getting a face lift. There was a problem finding a hotel with Aircon and the one we settled on had spiral, tiled steps, all of irregular heights, leading up to the 3rd floor. While catching our breath, we took in the spectacular view from our balcony. Huge, narrow, jagged hills reach into the sky, clad with trees, surrounded by lush jungle come forest and a chocolate brown river weaving in and out. Our first impressions have gone in a puff of smoke, and we're so glad we came. You were right all along, Graeme XX. We take our life in our hands and descend the staircase from hell to discover the down side of Vang Viang is the food. Never mind, we should start our diet soon anyway.

Tues. 2nd.
We have a very long lie in and don't arrive at the Tubing staion until 11:00. I was hoping we'd be too late but no, there were plenty of rubber rings left, so we take a tuk tuk to the starting point. This was great, a gentle float down the river, not at all like the white water we experienced in Brazil! There are lots of bars and water activities along the way, where you can grab a bamboo cane held out for you, and the bar boys haul you in. The whole trip takes 4 hours, so when we figured we were half way through, we dec ided to stop for lunch, only to discover that the next bend in the river was the end of the line. That's how quickly time is going now. We stretched out by the river side on a raised, carpeted platform and ate our belated lunch from a round bamboo table. Soon, the shallow river was teamiong with kids of all ages and we felt so priviliged to be there and be a part of it. Even if it did mean getting splashed every 5 minutes. We watched the sun go down from our balcony, and as the road turned a terra cotta colour, the scene reminded us of a wild west town...orient style.

Wed. 3rd.
We caught the 10:00 bus to the capital, Vientiane, and again it was over-booked with people sitting in the aisle. The scenery isn't as spectacular today and lots of the local homes are being replaced by brick buildings. So, if you want to see Laos au naturel, get here soon. The highlight today was seeing a family of elephants strolling down the road and a herd of jersey type cows lying at the school entrance. The kids just squeezed past no problem. The children have a long walk to school in the blazing heat, but they look immaculate, with white shirts and long skirts or trousers. Arriving in the city, Jim takes off and finds an up-market hotel with swimming pool, and comes back to collect me and the bags in their minibus. We spend the next half hour flushing the loo, marvelling at hot water and watching something called t.v. We're sure the novelty will wear off.

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