Charoensri Palace Hotel Udon Thani

... of the crowds and just let them do what they want? can you imagine crowds shutting down airports for a week in america with no response from the police? or completely shutting down traffic of a huge city while the police watched and did absolutely nothing. the thais are completely incompetent when it comes to dealing with these people and dont understand the idea of tear gas and water cannons. im tired of these people.

... je suis allée me faire masser au salon d'à côté. Un massage laosien qui ressemble un peu au thai (en fait du yoga pour paresseux). Ça fait du bien. J'ai hésité avec le oil massage (les caresses) mais j'ai choisis l'autre et j'ai retrouvé pas mal de techniques que j'ai apprise (les points surtout) C'est top d'avoir des notions ! Et comme cela ne me suffisait pas, je suis allée au Silapa, le meilleur restaurant français de la ville qui se trouve en bas de chez ...

... behind as a big French music festival was kicking off for the weekend. We had fun hanging out at the festival and ran into some people we met in Luang Prabang, Jon and Sarah. Everything ended early on account of the nation-wide curfew of 11:30pm and we returned to our room of many beds for what we thought would be a restful sleep. I woke up in the night being eaten alive by mosquito's because we fell asleep with our door open due to the heat ...

... I set the clock at the wrong time, so it was 7 in the end). Today was a long day of biking, we started off to Erwan Caves where we ate a traditional Thai breakfast of fresh salted snapper, sticky rice and sauce (the name of which I forget). We climbed the 600 odd steps to the top and walked through the caves. Usually at this time of year there are fantastic views, but sadly there was a lot of morning mist still around so we couldn't see that far. We got back ...

... the river in the tube definitely had it's appeals, it was a great pace to see things going on around the banks. We had just one last brief beer stop before we pulled in back near town. A bit cold and wet, we lugged our tubes back the cartel guys, and headed for a hot shower. Next we had to make a quick stop in the capital to extend our visas in preparation for my Mum and Dad coming over to visit. And then hot foot it back up to Luang Prabang where we were meeting.

... window was a bit irritating. There was a group of five people that seemed to be having difficulty being stamped out of the country, and then another five people between them and us. I sighed a few times and then realized there was nothing I could do but wait...and eavesdrop :) There were two older women behind us with American accents. They were discussing the abundance of holidays in Thailand, and one ...

... in the best way. They even had yoga courses, astrology and reiki, just my sort of place! :) I don't want to big it up too much though because loads of people will go there and spoil it. Although, it's definitely not the place if you want wild nightlight, or even nightlife of any sort really, apart from maybe dinner by the river or a beer over looking the Meekong. We dumped our stuff in our lovely room and then headed out to rent bikes and explore a little ...

... City. This consisted of an eclectic collection of hindu-buddhist fusion statues, elegantly sculpted from concrete. We snapped the obligatory photos, had a coffee and returned to the city in time to catch a taxi to the airport. While in the departure lounge, we passed the time playing gin rummy and we gathered quite an audience. Throughout the New Year festivities, we observed large groups of mostly men playing some sort of card game that involved cash and a specific lay-out of ...

... don't do such things for Jordanians, which Lina happens to be. In the end, after much cigarette smoking and hair tugging, the official was able to find an available travel agent who would process a rush visa for her. Many million dong lighter, Lina and Marianne were able to leave the airport and rush home to prepare for the quickly approaching Monday morning. Back in Vientiane, Konrad and I were trying to figure out a plan of action for ourselves. When we'd ...

... which means I should have plenty of time to get a train ticket across to Chengdu, and maybe see some other sights along the way. I sped up a little bit in Laos to make the most of the time between now and the 16th, and this morning changed my train ticket (which I'd pre-booked) to Bangkok so that I can go today instead of two days from now. Tomorrow morning in Bangkok I'll go get my plane ticket to Hong Kong printed, and hopefully that should be that!