Babylon Guest House Vientiane

Laos 20th June - 29th June Days 143 - 152 The route from northern Thailand into Laos is becoming ever more popular. From Chang Khong in Thailand, I took a ferry over the Mekong into Laos. From this point it was a two day 'slow boat' journey down the river into northern Laos. The trip itself is, well, slow, but it's an increasingly stunning journey as you draw nearer to the town of Luang Prabang, with forest covered jagged peaks dropping onto the banks of the river. The first day on the river ...

Another couple days have passed and a lot has happened. So two days ago I left Luang Prabang for Vang Vieng. The drive was about 7 hours, but again the scenery was unbelievable. I didn't realize how mountainous and green Laos was. Along the drive I saw tiny village after tiny village in the middle of the mountains and green as far as you could see. This ride was manageable because I was on a minibus and the seats were somewhat comfortable, unlike the wooden benches from the slow boat about 5...

Ros: Well hello there from the Hat Rin of Laos - or so our guide book would have us believe. I wouldn't go quite that far, although it does have a lot in common with that horrid little party town on the tip of Ko Pha Ngan. Like Hat Rin, it is full of very drunk white people. Like Hat Rin it is full of guest houses selling western food, buckets of cocktails and with videos of Friends on perpetually. However, we have so far managed to stay here for two nights, and will be staying another couple...

So from Chiang mai we got a 12 hour coach trip to Udon Thani which we slept all the way. We then had to get a coach from the bus station to Nong khai where we went over the frenship bridge (border) into loas. We then travelled 30 mins to the capial vientiane where we found a lovely guest house. We then stayed there until our vietnam visas were ready then we went on our way.

Our bikes weren't due back till 1pm, which was perfect as we had to check out at 11:30 but didn't need to be back at the guest house until 1:30, so we had a cycle to the WiFi cafe for some breakfast while we checked our email, checked out then had a cycle around the local area to have a look at some of the stuff we'd missed yesterday. We headed to the Laos National Museam but it had shut for lunch, most places close between 12 and 1pm, which was a shame. We cycled past the National Cultural H...

:D

I will add more detail later, but basically today we did b*gger all. Got out of bed at about 11am. Went for a fry up at the Sakura cafe. Went for a walk down to the river. Lazed in the hammocks by the river. Came back for shower. Then Skyped me mum. It's so easy to fall into a trap of nothingness here - it's great!

TUBING PHOTOS WILL BE ON WHEN WE HAVE HAD THE DISPOSABLE CAMERA DONE = UNFORTUNATELY, THEY HAVEN"T COME OUT TOO WELL!! ======================================= ============================= Got up around 10ish and found a small café to get a bacon baguette. We then went to chill out on the beds at the Sakura Café. We decided to put a DVD on whilst we waited for Luca to turn up to go tubing. Amazingly, Luca is from Mapperley and is also a Forest fan! Yes we have another casualty of the insane f...