Long over due update

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Ok so its been a while since my last update! I just can't bring myself to spend 30mins on the Internet when i could be enjoying my travels... Either that or i'm just lazy, you decide!

Laos can only be described as a Backpackers heaven, while i only explored a slither of what it has to offer, the experiences I have had are enough to satisfy my reasons for traveling. I will definitely return. Vang Vieng (where we spent most of our time) is perhaps akin to what Thailand was 10 or even 15 years ago, untainted by the ravages of tourism! The locals are friendly, you don't get ripped off and no-one haggles you. Other travelers know how to have a good time and aren't there just to get pissed... all the bars close at 11.30pm (its law).

It is interesting to note that we arrived on the first overcast day in 2 months and didn't see the sun until the day we left. For some this dampened the Vang Vieng experience... for us... the rain and cloud made for a uniquely different and perhaps better experience. Vang Vieng is famous for it's 'tubing'. From the town you are trucked 4km up river, given a rubber tube and left to float downstream. Sounds a-bit tame but for the many bars found along the banks which pull you in with bamboo poles so you can by a beer! Add to this good music, flying foxes, rope swings (up to 15 metres high) and free shots of lao-lao (the local whiskey) and you have one amazing afternoon. So how did the rain make this day better than if it were sunny? At the back of one of the bars were two beach volleyball courts which had turned to mud... a game of volleyball ensued before an impromptu mud fight broke out between our group! This escalated to a 40 or so strong mosh pit of mud slinging fun! I ended up with muddy sand in my hair, eyes, down my boardies and also received an entire handful in my mouth when I gasped for some air! That evening after spending too long at individual bars/Rope swings we had only covered 2km and with the sun set were ushered out of the water by a waiting tuk tuk driver. After a long shower we ate dinner and decided to have a few quiet ones... but were surprised to find that every bar be entered wanted to give us free booze! Our part in initiating Vang Vieng's very first tubing mud fight gained us a small celebrity which continued with random strangers greeting us for the next couple of days!

The very next day played out in similar fashion. We hired mountain bikes to explore the hundreds of caves in the area. The usually dry and dusty dirt roads had also turned to mud which, by the end of the day covered us from head to soggy shoe. It was refreshing to find that from the small sample of caves we saw, all were quite different. The first seemed as though a huge worm had eaten its way into the rock, this one single cavern perhaps 3m in diameter extended for at least 1km. It was quite surreal to go caving without a guide and not see another soul for the entirety of the cave... We decided to turn back without reaching the end. Commando-crawling through the next cave was great fun but for the fact that we had no helmets and at times it was so narrow that Dan (who is 6'+) found it difficult to move! We got lost in our final cave walking in a circle 3 times before finding a group who hadn't been so cheap as to forego a guide.

From Laos we traveled to Malaysia to meet up with dad and spend Chinese New Year (CNY) with his side of the family... all 40 (approx.) of them. An equally amazing experience to Laos... one which I will cherish for a long time. You cannot say you have experienced a firework display until you've witnessed a CNY in Malaysia. Every house has its very own arsenal of explosive devices which, can be seen and heard continuously for two full nights. After the initial and most celebrated days of CNY we traveled with dad up to Penang to spend a couple of days of R+R by the beach. Were off to Cambodia tomorrow... so I should have more to write about in 1 week (if i'm not too lazy). I wish everyone a Happy CNY... Gong Xi Fa Chi.

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