So much for Good ol lonely!

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well, here i am in a comfortable internet cafe in vang vieng- contrary to most of what lonely planet said! (no power, no internet my arse!) it's raining wonderful tropical rain outside and i'm nice and fresh after a HoT shower- (that's right lonely, they have hot water too!) and a nap in my $1 a night luxury room! i went tubing down the river song today and it was absolutely beautiful. found out about the wwoofing as well- turns out that you actually have to pay vast sums of money on accommodation and food (more than in town) in order to work there... so guess that's out for me. i'm keeping nowhere near budget, but it's ok because Benny is lending me some money til we get back to land of the ATMs. Might just leave the rest of this entry as a photojournal, as i don't have enough time or money to write ten thousand words 😊 sohk dii!

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Photos

Cave on the Mekong
This cave outside of luang prabang was absolutely chok-full of decaying Buddhas! Amazing and kind of freaky at the same time!

Cave on the Mekong
looking out of the cave over the mekong

The Mekong
i feel more and more like a hobbit the further i go into this country! dad, i'd LOVE to come canoing down here with you some time!

uke in a cave
i took my ukulele deeper into the buddha cave where there was nobody around and nothing but candles lighting it and played for a while. the acoustics were MAD!! it sounded so beautiful, i could have stayed there in the darkness all day! :)

the boss with the uke
the same entrepreneur that ran our guesthouse rockin out on the uke

The bus to Vang Vieng
The whole 8 hours it took to drive the 170km to Vang Vieng were probably some of the most beautiful i have ever had! The photos can't begin to do justice to the landscape

The bus to Vang Vieng
i love laos

The bus to Vang Vieng
...took more photos on this one day than in a whole week in thailand!

Kids in Luang prabang
little kids we met at the nightmarket. benny and pete made them paper planes and i entertained them with my camera.. they were great :)

Kids in Luang prabang
chillin on the bike... they start young in laos! with EVERYTHING! it's a country full of zambotto kids!!

another instrument for the collection
bought a flute for 10,000 kip - which is about a dollar. that makes 5 instruments that i am carrying now!

Kip
possibly the most worthless currency in the world. this is the remainder of today's budget- probably about 5 australian dollars... if only prices were the same in kip as they were in dollars!

Comments

[jesse]

shit hot
Hey chaz, how are ya mate. Im so glad to see that you are getting around SE asia. It looks so good over there, I think my next trip will have something to do with that area. Are you heading over to India? if so dont do a treck anytime after september, no matter how "warm" the tourguides tell you it will be. Im back at uni looking for a job, a house, and a bit of sanity, not exactly in that order! But so far havent come close to any. Have a great trip....stupid thing to say! Peace man Jesse

[luce]

that flute picture is so beautiful

[Lexie]

woah
hey charlie. I love the fotos u are posting they look reallly nice! im chucking a sicky today and being a lazy arse. when are u heading to the uk?