VangVieng and southern Laos

So today it's Kirk's turn to be sick. That's 3 for 3. He was puking all the way down the street as we walked to get our bus tickets to Vang Vieng.We took a minibus to Vang and the scenery through the winding mountain roads was beautiful. Poor Kirk, he's not looking to well and was almost set off again when the pretty Laos Co-pilot got car sick. Along the way we got stopped for over 40 minutes at a police check point. Never did figure out why?

We eventually arrived around 3pm and tried to get into Riverside Bungalows, but they were booked up and had to go next door to ChampaLao Bungalows. That was fine 'cause they are closer to the cool spots and cheaper. There Duong told us how to avoid getting into trouble with the police and then we decided to immediately test out our new found knowledge.

You see the bars here are also Coffee Shops ala Amsterdam. So we sat down at The Smile Bar and had breakfast including a cup of Laos Coffee which is undrinkable Mud. Really horrible stuff! And then bought a bag of good "Coffee" to brew up. Much nicer.Ok, so I'll sum up the next few days: lying in hammocks, lying in tubes going down the river, lying in our bungalows, sitting around bonfires at night, chillin, relaxing and chillin some more. It's just that kind of place!!

The tubing is fun if a little slow at this time of the year. At some points it seemed like we weren't moving at all. But it's nice to slowly and aimlessly drift down stream past bars, huts or even just a guy with a cooler selling Beer Laos. Along the way the way the bars have swings and ziplines to plunge into the water and hopefully not break your neck.

So before we relaxed into a coma we decided to move on to south to Vientienne, Laos capitol city. If for only one day. So we went to Buddha Park and it was worth a visit. Lots and lots of cement statues.

Then we were off to an area they call 4000 islands where the Mekong fans out it's width to accomadate them all. It's even slower and more relaxed down on Don Det, the island we stayed on. So basically we carried on at a snails pace and the highlight was the waterfall. Actually, not so much a waterfall as a large plateau of cascades with serious amounts of water moving even though it was the dry season.

So we only needed a few days there. At the rate we were slowing down we would soon start developing rust so it was time to travel back to Thailand viase Pakse into Chom Mek, Thailand. A little used border crossing, well at least for westerners. After paying the $1 holiday surcharge at the border (it's Chinese New Year! - Happy New Year!!) we had a quick lunch which gave us all the shits. Next we continued on to Ubon Ratchathani which is very much off the backpacking trail. In fact, we only saw one group of farang the entire time there. But then we were only there 1 day to make our way to Pattaya. Infamous Pattaya. The undisputed 24/7, 365 hedonism capitol of the world.

Ok. So it's two days before I'll be home and I'm gonna pretty much break it off here. My job is done. Well almost. ......