Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, its very name conjures up images - those images will depend on what it is you want: such as the backpacker haven of Thanon Khao San or the girlie bars and ping pong shows of Patpong in downtown Bangkok being both ends of the spectrum and a multitude in between. The intense sensory overload will hit you day one; the manic pace of tuk-tuk drivers as they hurtle you around the city as if completing their personal best on Gran Turasmo 3, to the variety of smells, some welcome, like BBQ chicken others horrendous: the pungent smell of drains from the city’s many open sewages. The city is awash with cultural activities from the numerous Wats around, some large and grand such as Wat Pho or also known as Wat Phra Chetuphon and ... read more

In Northern Laos lies the Province of Luang Prabang, resting on the banks of the ever flowing Mekong River - the fourth country on its journey to the South China Sea. Luang Prabang is a world heritage site and has been since1995, it deserves its status as it’s a very pretty town, the government has preserved the old French colonial buildings and has allowed / funded their renovation unlike other parts of Laos such as Savannakhet. Judging by the large tour groups and bus loads of people, families and those not instantly recognized within the ‘backpacker’ fraternity pepper the streets. There is a distinct cosmopolitan feeling to this stunning little town, you will lose count of the number of cafes, restaurants and wine bars, YES wine bars, where wine is sold at a reasonable price and ... read more

We arrived in Vang Vieng after dark at around 6pm and proceed to find a bed for the night, having discovered that our recommended accommodation was fully booked we ended up in the Vang Vieng Orchid which was perfectly fine, had a nice clean, spacious room with a balcony overlooking Don Khang and the Karsts behind, there were a couple of bars across the river but as most things close around 23:30 - 00:00, it was not a problem. Our room cost us 100,000kip which was pretty much the going rate around the riverside area. Vang Vieng is a strange place, being in Laos it is very laid-back, and there are a plethora of friends bars at every turn and every other bar appears to a be showing Family Guy - something T hadn’t realised was ... read more

After getting off the Vientiane bound bus at Vieng Kham along route 13 we set off in search of sawngthaew - these are ‘jumbo’ tuk tuks that have a fixed route and a fixed price per person; they pretty much operate like a bus. We found one heading to Ban Khoun Kham also known as Ban Na Hin and made the 41km journey east along route 8; we arrived at the central market and headed off in search of a bed. We can’t remember the name of the place where we stayed but it was really nice and cost 80,000 kip. Ban Khoun Kham is a pretty cool little place, it’s very much a one street ‘town’ with a market at the end, so we had a wander in search of food and an ice cold ... read more

Our next stop in Laos was Pakse, founded by the French in 1905 as an administrative outpost, it sits on the Mekong River and the Se Don River. It is a very small town with not much to do at all. We had the unfortunate pleasure in staying there for 2 nights because Tony got ill with a very high fever. We did not do much here, just pottered and lounged around in our hotel room, at Sabaidy 2 Guesthouse (68,000 kip a night). From here we headed in land to Tad Lo. Our journey was interesting to say the least, our bus looked like it was ready for the scrap heap, with holes in the floor covered with planks of wood, dents in the front and side, the front of the bus had a massive ... read more