Vientiane, Vang Vieng & Luang Prabang, Laos...

Well hello. Contrary to reports the journey from Siem Reap to the Thai border at Poipet was fine, which leads me to believe that they must have sealed the road at some point between now and when our guide book was written in 2008. (Full of fascinating facts aren't I). Anyway so we spent a week in Bangkok while we waited for our Indian visas to be processed, staying on Soi Rambutri just off the Khao San Road, first at My House which was great for film watching but our room looked like a prison cell, and then at the Green House, always a bonus to have BBC world news and see what's happening out there (it's the only television I've seen in months). When we picked up our visas at the embassy, where Danny and I met a fascinating Israeli woman who had just become a monk (well, I suppose technically she was a nun, but she had all the garb and the shaved head) and lives in a temple in Tibet, and she told lots about India which was really helpful.

The next day we caught a night train from Bangkok to Nong Khai, which is right on the border with Laos. We weren't certain we were going to go to Laos, but when we entered Thailand they had just changed the immigration rules so our passports were only stamped with 14 days so we needed to leave the country anyway, and it was a choice between Laos and Burma. Once we were at Nong Khai we took a tuk tuk to the Thai-Lao friendship bridge where you apply (and wait) for your Lao visa, and then a bus and a tuk tuk the 20km to Vientiane, the capital city which, handily is right on the border.

Delightfully laid back and with great weather Vientiane was a pretty, sleepy place to spend some time. We checked into Phonepaseuth hotel and wandered about for the day, ate a great Indian dinner at Nazim by the riverfront, and the next morning took the 5 hour bus north to Vang Vieng, a dusty little town in the north which is famous in Laos for its Tubing.

Tubing is basically sitting in a giant rubber ring (made from a huge tractor tyre's inner tube) and floating down the beautiful Nam Song river. On either side are tons of make shift bars that you paddle over too (or they kindly hook you in with ropes) where you can have a Lao beer (or ten) and play mud volleyball, wrestling, go on the zip slide, launch yourself from a terrifyingly steep slide etc etc etc. It's basically a big adults playground, and there are plenty of people who get so hooked they can't leave, clocking up 50 days or even 200 days worth of tubing. Being the sensible folk that we are (i.e. we forgot to bring enough money) we had a couple of beers each and then set about floating down the river past all the bars to the end of the tubing circuit, which was great at first but after a while the old arms begin to tire, especially when you see a sign that says '2km to go' and you're moving at a speed of approximately 3cm per hour. And also a little disconcerting when you realise the rocks you thought you saw in the water are actually a huge herd of water buffalos with giant horns that you're now floating perilously past. Or when actual rocks hit you in the bum during the rapidy bits. Still, the scenery is stunning, with huge limestone peaks covered in forest jutting up into the sky. We rested up that evening (well the part of it when they hadn't turned the electricity off in the town) in a bar watching 'Friends.' Weirdly enough the whole of Vang Vieng is completely obsessed with Friends, they play it non-stop, on loop, in every single bar and restaurant. But we haven't seen it since October so we didn't mind for one night.

The next day we took an extremely windy but picturesque 8 hour minibus up route 13 to Luang Prabang, passing through remote villages in the mountains dotted with little wooden houses with thatched roofs on stilts, and mothers working the land with their tiny babies strapped to their backs. Danny also noticed that there were a couple of guys carrying guns and I later read that the route has in the past been plagued by shootings, something to do with the Hmong tribespeople clashing with the government. You also have to be very careful when you get off the bus for a roadside toilet stop in Laos as the country is still covered with unexploded mines from the secret war between 1965-73 when the Americans bombed the hell out of it. Laos is actually the most bombed place on earth.

Lonely Planet calls Luang Prabang, 'perhaps the most sophisticated, photogenic city in all of South East Asia' and it didn't disappoint. Well, the city didn't. Something I had eaten certainly disappointed my insides, so I spent the first night vomiting from 7pm to 7am, after which Danny kindly moved us into a nicer hostel (putting the bags and then me on a tuk tuk for the five minute walk as I was completely incapacitated) where I spent another day and a half recovering before I could go and see the town. So on our third day, rattling about with a stomach full of antibiotics and anti malarial tablets we went and saw all the beautiful French shuttered buildings, glittering golden wats, temples and orange robed boy-monks who wander the immaculate, palm tree lined streets. It gets even more gorgeous as the sun sets along the Mekong river, the sky turns pink and the locals set up the fairy light and lantern laden night market selling Lao trinkets. It's such a relaxed, pretty place to while the evening away, with French restaurants left over from the occupation and great bars (we loved Hive in particular). Fortunately the town is also a Unesco World Heritage site so that means it should stay this way.

After that it was back on the road to Vientiane where we are now! We thought about catching the two day boat to Chiang Mai in Thailand, but met some girls who said after Luang Prabang Chiang Mai didn't impress them, so we decided to head straight back down to Bangkok (where we are going on a nightbus tonight). Once we're there we'll either be catching a flight out to Mumbai, India the day after tomorrow, or if we can get hold of STA travel who have been very elusive so far, we'll extend our stay here are go to the South of Thailand to see the islands of Ko Phi Phi and Ko Phangnan. So I'll let you know next time...