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Happy Times n Lost Passports
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After a few days enjoying the luxuries of civilisation in Luang Prabang, I headed further south to Vang Vieng. We happened upon the meeting of a rowdy horde of Irish on the way, and what with Paddy's day looming large, a wild party was a brewing. By 6pm, we seemed to have accumulated more Irish, or those claiming irish ancestry thru Guiness and four-leaf-clovered face paints, that by the time we headed down to the crazy island on the river, it seemed we had taken the whole place over! A night of carnage ensued, with many of the most inebriated, waking by the riverside the next morning!
The town is reknowned for many things, most of them have the word "Happy" as a prefix. Happy Pizza, Happy Shakes, Happy Bars, Happy People!! I loved the shameless notes in the menu "We have big bag marajuana. Thank you. Be happy!" or even plastered across the wall in one cafe, "Beer. Weed. Happy Times. Happy Shakes". The police here are actually quite strict and even while I was there, two folk were arested by undercovers and fined $500 each, not that the locals seemed to give a flyer, continuing to punt out as much weed and magics as the viajeros could consume! Even while tubing down the river, among shouts from enterprising local boys of "BeerLao" and "jumping" (from precariously high rickety bamboo platforms into a shallow river), the odd wee sneaky was chugging on a red eyed puffer.
Considering the fact I haven't dragged my hairy slovenly ass any kind of southerly distance to go meet Chris in Ko Tao, I thought I'd better make my way down for the last stop in Laos, the island of Don Det, this is a neat wee river island at a wide section of the Mekong. No sooner had I arrived, than I realised my passport had gone walkies! BEEEAAATCH!!! I must've left the bastard thing in Vientianne. Then I discover, there's no British Embassy in Laos - oh dear! Trapped here forever! With any luck, the Ozzies will be able to sort me out, but of-course they've shut up shop for the Easter holidays!! Easter doesn't even exist here! I suppose at least that gave me some more time in Don Det, not that it did me any good as I was entirely unsuccessful in resisting the urge to lie in my hammock all day! So after travelling half the length of the country to get down here, I now have to go all the way back up to the boring hole of Vientianne to sort the shit out. The worst thing about it, is the fact that the collectors piece is gone - although it was barely still in one piece, I had cool stamps and visas from every corner of the globe and it was almost completely full - ah well, I just need to fill a new one up again eh!
So, unless I get tossed in a Laos jail for breaking immigration laws, I should be heading back to Thailand for meeting wi a load of neeburs for big moon parties on Ko Phangan. Come on along, everyone is welcome! I'll miss Laos though, it's been probably the laziest month of my life, time here really does slow down and there's never a rush to do a thing. Indeed if you are ever in a rush, then you will have a major problem here! I loved the old French proverb which the frogs gleaned from their colonisations here in Indochina - "The Vietnamese plant the rice, the Cambodians watch them, then the Lao listen to it grow". Brilliant. More thumbnails ...
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