for relaxing times, make them beerlao times..

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Hi, more nonsense form south east asia...its weird but i seem to have been up to so much these past few days, im suprised ive managed to fit it all in.

Only a few days ago i was in Kanchanburi, near the river Kwai..i went to some amazing waterfalls where i bumped into one of the folks from my hostel, a dutch copper called aranold. We had a good old wander up and down the waterfalls and then i went back to the tour group i was with. After a trip to see some elephants,(i declined the chance of a ride on one in favour of lunch and a kip) we headed off to the kwai railway, now known as 'the death railway' TM..It was p[retty interesting but i felt that whilst the guide told us about the 70.000 or so people who died building it something was lost as the majority of the group slurped ice creams and fucked around on the tracks..i dont blame the thais for making it a tourist thing, but it would have been nice if more of the people had a little respect. after a train journey on the 'death railway' TM, we ende3d up at the bridge. Even William Holden couldnt blow up this new one as it is made of iron..and perhaps ironically..by a japanese engineering firm...


Anyway, the keys on this computer are sticky as hell (???) and so ill move along as fast as i can..I left Kanchanburi by train and sat with a thai family (i swear there must have been thirty of them)..they were so kind and friendly, giving me lunch, beer, sweets, all in exchange for teaching a few of the lads some good old english profanities...After that i arrived back in Bangkok and hired a vietnamese taxi driver who knew less about bangkok than i did..he had to stop on the freeway and ask an old lady selling fruit the way to the main train station..the fruit was nice though so he still got a tip..

Once at the main station, i jumped on the nightrain to Nong Khai (north east thailand) for my crossing to Laos. Ive never slept on a train and was hoping it would be like 'minder on the orient express', or perhaps the 'silver streak'. It was more like 'das boot'..it was 2nd class and we were crammed in..to top it all the designated smoking platform (yes, i know ive supposed to have quit but try not to at 50 cents a pack) was the bit where the two cariages join together..they didnt look very well joined to me so after a quick fag i beat a hasty retreat to my submariners quarters....

Got to Nong Khai about 9.30am after 12hrs on the train. I was going to stay in nong khai for a day but the tul tuk i jumped in took me straight to the deprature point for Laos. I was so zonked out from the past few days i just followed other people and handed over cash/passport where necessary..beofre i knew it i was in a knackered volkswagen headed for the Laos capital-Vientiane.

Vientiane is tiny, no bigger than Loughborough (during the summer, without the students). However, it does have a kind of fake 'arc de triomphe' and restaraunts aplenty......Laos is a lot more laidback than Thailand, i plan to spend the next ten days or so here..although i am getting sick of being offered opium everywhere i go at night...

I took a day trip to the 'buddha park', which is a garden full of massive concrete buddhas created by some guy who was subsequently kicked out of Laos (for his over crazy buddha building no doubt). The place was amazing, buddhas of all shapes and sizes doing all kinds of things...planet eating, snake bothering, one even had a guitar...eddie van buddha perhaps...

Anyway, i left Vientiane today, cuaght a bus to Vang Viang. Im staying in a place by the Nam Xiong river..the view is breathtaking..all misty mountains and bamboo bridges...im just waiting for Monkey to come drifting round the corner on a cloud, followed by pigsy and co...I met an american girl on the bus here and she is staying at the same place..there are these cool little bars where you can lounge around watching movies., eat . get pissed.....tomorrow im going on a tour through some caves, see some local folks doing stuff, (brewing whisky i think)and going riding down the river on big tyres....other than that, ill just be taking it easy, enjoying my hols....

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Comments

[Arnold]

the dutch copper
hey Jon, I see you are traveling very fast, you're in Lao already? I've visited Lao for one day (have a stamp in my passport en bought me a LaoBeer....) I'am leaving Chiang Mai en will go to the Northeast of Thailand.... and I realy don't no what I will find over there..... Grtzz from the dutch copper (the name was almost right, it is Arnold...)