Laid-back Laos

We went against Lonely Planet's recommendations about flying with Lao Airlines (cos they don't have electornic navigation or something, and can't if there are clouds cos they can't see) and took our lives into our own hands to save time - the only alternative was a 3 day mission via bus and slow boat. I was counting the people in our check-in queue to try and guess the size of our plane, so when more than 6 people (including us) turned up I was very stoked. It turned out to be a rather nice little plane, much bigger than we'd thought, but we nevertheless still kissed Laos soil on landing!!


We only stayed one night in the French town of Luang Prabang (bring on the tuna baguettes!!) and thoroughly enjoyed the slower pace of Laos compared to in-your-face Thailand.

At the night market you could actually go and look at the things without 836 people coming up to you to buy their stuff.

Braving a Lao Lao Cocktail!
The next morning we left EARLY (one of three trips that left early, including our next plane trip!!! Where else???!) on a private minivan for a hair-raising up-and-down the mountian bendy bendy roadtrip to Vang Vieng. Once again we managed to find the bus with NO other tourists on it, but it was cool cos we had a few seats to ourselves, and the driver spoke very good english and was very helpful. We did have a mini breakdown where the engine overheated and didn't have any water left in the cooling system, so we filled up at the next town where I was busting for the loo and had to find a secluded spot in between the huts!

The trip was well worth the mission once we had checked into our corner riverside bungalow for the equivalent of 90p a night each!

That night we had dinner at a cafe which sold weed and opium openly on the menu! We met an english guy working there who does tours on the river, so we signed up with him for the following day.
Anyone going to Laos, I highly recommend you meet Richard and get him to take you!
Because the river was quite low, we took kayaks instead of tubes so that we didn't get tired trying to paddle (with arms) our way down getting stuck on the rocks. It turned out to be a good call cos towards the 2nd half of the day we passed many exhausted tubers who had given up trying! Not even 1 hour into the trip, and we'd pulled over to a spot with a foofie slide and beer! I was a bit chicken to try it at first, but it looked like fun so I just ran up, grabbed the bar and jumped without pausing. Then nobody could stop me! I did it over and over and when we got to the next spot, the jump was even higher and you had to swing back and forth before letting go otherwise it'd be too high to fall. Loving it!! Sue and I were doing Chuck Norris roundhouse kicks in the air!






We stopped for a bit to visit some random cave ("Sleeping Cave") where the Lao people hid during the war (I think). It was fun, except for the 50 bites that I got within 2 minutes. Not great.




To end of a superb day we dragged some fellow bungalowers out with us, met Richard and Sam (another guy on the river with us) and tested out the Buckets at the bar. I think we were expecting to bounce off the walls, but it just kinda brought a nice buzz to the evening and woke us up a bit after a very energetic and boozy day.


Richard took us down the road and around the corner to the "Air Strip" (the American built it back during the war when Laos was bombed the most) where the locals were holding a massive fair and concert. We got some beers and drank Lao Style, and picked up a mascot for the trip called Phalang (meaning "Tourist" to the locals). Phalang joined us on the dance floor, dancing in lines opposite the boys - so polite! I was even asked to dance by one of the locals who was so shy it took him all night to ask me to dance! Of course I dragged everyone else onto the dance floor for moral support!


We ended up in Jay Dee's bar playing pool and trying to steal the owner's cool T-shirt ("SuperMao" meaning Super Fucked). Then we missioned back towards our bungalow, detouring to the Island Bar in the early hours of the morning, listening to the Pulp Fiction soudtrack around the campfire - I was in heaven!