Tai Pan Hotel Vientiane

... 1506;רי לאוס, נגועה במחלה שמעטי מעט זכו לה, שימור האווי 12;ה הנושנ 92;.
כנרא
492; זה מתוך נחשלו 14; ול ...

... the gym while other had a relaxing time in the pool with Ali and Jon being on lifeguard duty. Then after Thai massage several of us decided to get sweaty in the sauna. Which I'm sure help convince smudge that we were gay!!!

After a good tanning session or burning session in dimwit’s case we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap before we headed off to meditate with some monks, who never turned up. So we were taught how to meditate by some random ...

... br>Wes had planned on leaving at the 1/3 mark. But he was enjoying it and his feet were handling the business shoes well so he kept on. It started raining at the stop before the last leg. No one stopped there, they were in too deep. The trail spit us out next to the Mekong river, if it hadn't been raining we could have seen a beautiful sunset on the river, but dark ominous clouds blocked the view. The trail quickly turned to thick, waist high grass. I was following Sir Cum Navigator who was ...

... five days in Si Phan Don we bid farewell to our good friends Roh and Rob as their Laos visa’s had expired and they were leaving for Cambodia. It was so much fun traveling with them!

Before leaving Roh and Rob, we picked their brains for the best places to visit in Laos as they had spent the last two months there. Rob was great. She marked up our LP (Lonely Planet) with all of their favourite spots. So Erin and I hit the road again. This time ...

Caught a local bus yesterday morning to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. Only 200,000 or so people and feels like a town more than city. Bus journey was probaby the worst yet. Was cheap though so can't complain too much. Made the mistake of sitting on the back row which meant a very rough and bumpy journey on a bus with no suspension. Also had 7 people wedged in as the bus went along and picked up more people. And there was half a farmers ...

... All the colours of the rainbow and a few more, and really psychedelic designs all over it. Mainly about women. On top of that we had a ****-off electronic sign on the front that changed from saying "VIP Bus" to "King of Buses", bright blue headlights, oh and a certain something a few of you gary boys may have heard of - neons. Bright green neons!!!! It was like one of those cars out of The Fast and The Furious!



We got on and found our allocated seats ...

... 4th time. In fact, he takes 2 months off every year and comes to South East Asia. His favourite place is Burma (Myanmar) even if they don't have any decent roads. We had been warned about the 'capital city syndrome' that Vientiane suffers from (accommodation costs more than it would otherwise if it weren't the capital) and sure enough prices are high. The cheapest place in the LP book is The Mixay and they say prices ...

... should be abandoned in this part of the world. There were bugs crawling all over the tables with the food... We watched part of a movie and packed up our things. We arrived at the tour office before 9:30 to find out that only one other couple had signed up. The "boss" wanted to cancel our trip. We agreed to go for an extra 50,000/couple, but the other couple did not want to pay extra. So, we got our money back and are now going to have to find another way ...

... the lack of free press, they are likely to remain so.

Many of the backpackers we had met on our travels in Asia had urged us to go to Laos 'Before it's too late', whatever that means. Now I know. They mean go now while it still has a distinctive culture. Go now while the forests are still intact and the air isn't choked by fumes. Go before they've heard of air-conditioning and laptop computers. Go now while the people still regard you with respect and not just the latest coloniser.