Laos

10/10/11
An early start as we said goodbye to now close friends as
the remainder of our group started the next leg of our journey to Laos. We had
a long 10 hour bus journey ahead of us, which included having lunch at the
remote bar where most of the local men inside were drunk on rice wine! The
journey wasn’t too bad especially near the border as a winding mountain road
gave us an insight into some of the scenery we would experience during our time
in Laos. Gone are the flat lands of constant rice paddies, now stunning rock
formations and mountains would be the order of the day. After crossing the
border we had only a short journey to our overnight rest stop in the sleepy
town of Lae Sao, here we toured the market before grabbing some food before
hitting the sack.

11/10/11
Another early start as we headed on to Vientiane one of the
smallest capital cities in the world. It
lays next to the Mekong River with Laos on one side and Thailand on the other.
On arriving we discover it is festival time in the city as the Buddhist Lent is
coming to an end as well as a boat festival is being held. The water front is
full of stalls and music stages as this city celebrates these events. That
night we decide to eat out from one of the stalls to experience the part
atmosphere, the place is full of people so after a while we decide to catch a
quick drink at a local jazz bar, very classy night out for our group! I end up
ordering a Pimm’s – very refreshing after a long day.

12/10/11
With only the morning to explore the capital city
most of us jump on a tuk tuk tour to quickly see the main sights. We first stop
off at Wat Ho Phakso and Wat Si Saket, the latter contains over 7,000 Buddha’s.
After we visit Pha That Luang the nation’s main monument before finally
checking out the views from the Victory Monument, which was built from concrete
that was supplied by USA to actually build a runway – opps! After our whistle
stop tour we jump back on the bus again to move on to our next destination –
Vang Vieng. On arriving we discover that a boat festival is in full flow here
as well. That night I book a full day trekking/kayaking tour to take place the
next day.