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Published: December 15th 2006
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Flew into Vientienne and had a whistle stop tour of the city, saw their version of the arc de triumph (probably spelt wrong) and a gold shiny big wat (can't remember the name). We also had the most painful massage ever - the evil witch dug her thumbs in so hard!! The next morning we got the local bus (cheaper and the same amount of time as the tourist buses) to Vang Vieng - a bit of a travellers mecca.
The main attraction is the tubing, where you hire rubber dingies and float down the river stopping en route at the make shift bars for some beer laos and swings. I was quite proud that i went on the swing starting from 10m up - Dan went a few times, i managed once - it was enough! Also, went tubing through a cave and kayaked down the same river, both excellent fun. The town is really small and has a huge concentration of restaurants/bars showing Friends and The Simpsons - very strange.
8 hour bus on very high up and windy road to Phonsavan or plain of jars where we saw all the very old mysterious (no one really
know why they're there)jars. Took lots of amusing jar photos ie. here's me falling in the jar etc.Really good day - made better from the great guide (Lorkham from Kong Keo guesthouse) and that we were invited to join some locals for their picnic. They were all chilling because it was national day and the food was much better than the crap we'd brought and the people were lovely.
Another 8hour windy bus journey, difference being we were sat next to a man with a gun, i'm no expert but we thought it was an ak47. He said i couldn't take a picture, i didn't ask again! Luang Probang is such a chilled out lovely place and the night market is awesome, our bags are now considerably heavier! Here we went on a 2 day trek an hour north. The trek was superb, we stayed in a village overnight in a wooden shack basically. The villagers were so friendly especially the kids and they all love seeing photos, so we provided entertainment that way. In the evening there was a ceremony to wish us luck and they tied white bits of string around our wrists and made us drink
rice wine - yum!
Next day we trekked back down to the main road and on the way back the tour guide asked if we wanted to go to a wedding, we said 'why not!'. So we went to a laos wedding. Again the people are so generous, they gave us food, super strong laos laos (whisky) and again we were entertainment for them especially us dancing. As foreigners we were popular partners to have! Another stop on the way back and we played plutonk, apart from all the baguettes another major french influence and had some more beer laos!
Flew to Chiang Mai - time is running out, so no 3 day slow boat journey for us. Went to a cooking school and think we gave ourselves food poisoning! The school was really good though and is run by a thai celebrity chef, kind of a thai ainsley harriet! Then got a 9 hour bus to Mae hong son, here we did another trek and saw the long neck ladies (who are refugees from Burma) fascinating to see. The other day we hired a motorbike, so much fun! We both had a go at driving and after a bit of practice the easy rider in both of us came through and we were speeding around in our purple helmets! On our own tour we visited a fish cave, waterfall and mud spa, which was so relaxing. There we had a dip in the mineral pool and had mud masks, we now have lovely soft skin! Bus back to Chiang mai for a day of more shopping at another massive and brilliant night market! Also, a chance to see the flora show - a flower disneyland in honour of the king. The king is mega in thailand, you even have to stand and pay your respects before a film starts at the cinema!
The night bus back to Bangkok - the worst journey ever. At 2am both kind of asleep and we awake to shouting, then the bus swerving and rolling into a ditch. Next we just wanted to get out because we thought the bus could explode, as there was smoke everywhere - fortunately it didn't. Very, very scary. Everyone was ok, Dan had some cuts from glass on his back and i've got a lovely black eye, but so lucky it could have been so much worse. First time i've really experienced shock i think, thankfully danny looked after me - my hero. After waiting 4 hours on the road side another bus took us the rest of the way, this was one time when South east asian laid back manner, lack of safety and organisation was not a good thing!!
Not surprisingly after that we've been chilling in Bangkok for a couple of days - both still achy and bruised. Fly to Hong Kong tomorrow, where we'll be for Xmas and New Year.
Happy Christmas everyone and have a wicked New Year too!!
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Shanghai Ken
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Muddy faces again
Just reviewed your visit to Fiji, gues what?! There was a pic posted with you two Mudded up in Fijian Spa aka mud pit. Deja Vu! Dare I say it, you would love a mud hut. C Us in HK.