Mukdahan Grand Hotel Udon Thani

... could swap cycling info and emails. While we were talking a very tall German guy came out of our guest house and the first thing that came out of his mouth was some derogatory comment about the amount of stuff he was carrying, proceeded to talk in German (despite Felix asking him to speak English because of us) and to tell us all about HIS travels on HIS bike. The general theme of his diatribe was 'don't do it your way, do it my way', we all agreed he was a complete tosser! Laters

... pas d'odeur nauséabonde...le bonheur quoi ! Combien de plus ? ben 3,5€ quand même mais quelle différence ! Promis demain je retourne en Thailande et je reduit le budget comme au début du voyage ! Mais franchement ça m'aura fait du bien de me faire un peu plaisir ! Je rappelle que mon cadeau d'anniversaire (le vol au dessus de l'Everest) à était annulé alors....j'avais bon ! J'ai pris un super douche dans ma super chambre et j'ai écris un peu pour vous ...

HE SAID: Well, we don't think that there is too much here (in Udon Thani) to see but we booked a flight here for two reasons: 1. The Lao Airlines website doesn't work and we couldn't find a decent fare into to Laos as a result. This town is 2 hours from Vientiene, the capital of Laos and is also the most busy land-border crossing between the two countries. 2. We found an amazing house to rent in Udon Thani with a private infinity pool overlooking the rice gardens ...

... garden right on the river bank. The quite a lot of yoga and new age type places clustered around it too. And the mayor plus side? They have wine! Its not particularly good wine, but its wine, nonetheless! I haven't done that much sightseeing here, its nice to just relax for a few days and do very little after spending the last few weeks fleeing around Thailand! There's a sculpture park about 7km away, so I hired a ...

... yes he speaks and writes fluently in Japanese. But this brief vita does not do justice to Paul. Maybe a renaissance man is a better description. An encyclopedic mind might be another. Arvid was browsing Paul's library when he found 3 or 4 volumes of selected poems of Ezra Pound and the entire Cantos. Soon Arvid was imitating the bards voice, reciting broken unconnected passages which began poking up from his hazy memory -- "The thought of what America ... the thought of ...

We arrived in Nong Khai yesterday after getting the overnight train from Bangkok, it was definitely an experience! We couldn't get an air con carridge as they were all booked out so we were in an upper and lower fan bunk. It wasn't the most comfortable temperature wise but the beds were realtively comfy. It's quite nosiy though so neither of us got a good nights sleep. Next time, air con sleeper train all the way :) Just as we emerged from the train station and ...

... and a long top. By dessert my toes are itching with a zillion bites and I have RSI from shooing them away from my face. Iain, on the other hand, goes to dinner in whatever.. and is not sure what I am complaining about. I woke the other morning with some fresh bites and was complaining (as you do.. hey they are really annoying) and Iain said "yeh, one was bothering me in the night so I shooed it to your side and then it never came back".... I am the human ...

... to avoid the housing problems we'd encountered in Luang Prabang, I'd made some reservations for us in Vientiane. I'd actually made reservations at two different hotels and let Konrad and Marianne pick where they wanted to stay. They opted for the cheaper of the two options (which still wasn't cheap - Vientiane proved to be a fairly expensive city for housing). The sawngthaew dropped us off, we consulted our map, and we started walking. Unfortunately, while ...

... town. It has more great temples, a huge arch monument called Patouxai, and That Luang -- a large golden stupa that's considered a national symbol. After two nights in Vientiane, I came across the border to Nong Khai, Thailand, this morning (I'm cutting back through Thailand on their rail system to reach Cambodia, so I don't have to take bad roads all the way there via Laos). Like Luang Prabang, I would have stayed in Vientiane longer ...

... arch things they have in France....." OR they have a great sense of humour and are still laughing away- "They said build a runway so we built....!! Ha Ha Ha". Either way it's not the prettiest vertical runway....nor is it any Arc De Triomphe. From the top,however, you could imagine it's somehere in France you're looking down on. <br>One of Vientiene's most bizarre features is the nightly public aerobics sessions that take place near the river ...