Heuan Lao Vientiane

"So the way this game works is that we take the chicken head, remember we didn't eat the chicken head..."

I remembered that we hadn't eaten the chicken head. It had been the only part of the chicken that I had bought as my contribution to the feast in my and Tuey, my guide's, honor that we hadn't eaten. Skin, bones, all delicious vital organs went into the dishes we had just eaten, various soups with local vegetables and a raw chicken local delicacy.

I nodded and Tuey continued ...

... Hurraayyy...

After struggling downstairs, we got a tuk-tuk to the COPE foundation. Did you know that Laos is the most heavily bombed country on the face of the planet? More bombs fell on Laos during the "Vietnam" War than fell during all of WWII, and overall it was the equivalent of one bombing run every 8 minutes, for nine years. In Vietnam, there were rules of engagement, but since Laos was neutral, most people didn’t need to hear ...

... is well organised and clean and not so chaotic as the Thai cities we have seen. Had a good wander around yesterday afternoon and this morning we're going to the local market and to look at some local wats and statues of Buddhas.

Tomorrow we've got an 11 hour bus ride (ow) to Luang Prabang, north of here and then we're off to Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat - v. excited!!! Funny to think we've only ...

... I travelled here. One of them was a Thai girl from Bangkok, named Al, who now works in Vientiane temporarily. So we arranged to meet up. She has an Icelandic girlfriend, it would have been nice to meet her too but she's in Iceland at the moment.
I had brunch at Joma's Cafe (yes that one with the great coffee and nice decor) and met up with Al there. We walked around town a bit, she doesn't know it that well yet either ...

... avons fait un arret a une chute en cascades， avant la cohue touristique. Nous avions le site pour nous seuls, c etait genial! Pour couper le trajet en deux, nous avons dormi a VangVieng, une ville tres touristique reputee pour ses TV bars et ses milkshakes hallucinogenes. Nous nous sommes abstenus et nous avons plutot profite de la belle temperature pour se promener a travers d'autres petits villages splendides.

... t resist eating somewhere named after my bestmate!!)
We wondered down to the river where they were putting offerings into the river. We bought a flower covered float with a candle and inscene to place in the river. A child was in the water to help push the floats out into the current and around us lots of locals were lighting lanterns to float into the sky like hot air ballons. We went back to the main street to join in with the fair fun and went on the bumper cars ...

... 1496;יול של כמה שנים מסביב לעולם.
ישבנו לשפת נהר המקונ 90;, והלב החסיר פעימה. באיזו שלווה ונו ...

... about everything we wanted to eat, i.e. orange juice and pizza, whilst lamenting the fact everything closed at 11. Next day this need was satisfied by a very very strange, yet brilliant breakfast of burger and chips (mmm early morning goodness!). It was then on to the 4 (but really 5) hour journey to Vientiane. Honestly, the bus drivers here love 3 things: Tooting the horn Bad terrible panpipe music played very loudly to the bus Turning off the ...

... looking for but not finding stacks of shredded up paper, which replace the chalk spots towards the end of the hash. I got to the intersection that I thought would definitely have a pile of shredded paper at and it didn't. I was contemplating turning back and getting on the trail when Sir Cum Navigator's wife, Globe Twatter takes off for the finish line. I join her and we're dodging cars pulling out parking spots, motorcycles pulling out side streets, and people opening doors to get out of ...

... this place looked like the front for some kinda back room casino until you got out back to villa, which is also currently under construction. Its a place to sleep, so eh, who cares.



Liron and I went for a walk around town and had dinner on what would've been the bank of the Mekong River if it wasn't the dry season. Actaully the deck we ate on, we later found out, would be under water during the rainy season, which is kinda crazy since the ...