Villa Manoly Vientiane

... were off to Vietnam but had run into some difficulties as Darren's passport had got wet a while ago and the Vietnamese embassy kept rejecting it, despite it not having been a problem with any of the other countries he had been to so far. I suspect he'll probably have to bribe them, the corrupt buggers. I had to head back around 10.30pm to pack, in preparation for my early flight the next morning, while Mark followed up half an hour later.<br>

... t resist eating somewhere named after my bestmate!!)<br>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 ...

... to its Asian neighbours, and even though many of Vientiane's streets were jam packed and difficult and absolutely mental, it was very chilled when compared to the likes of Phonm Penh and Saigon. <br><br>We rented bicycles from our guesthouse for a day for an outrageously low fee - the condition being that the bikes were in such bad condition that they were almost impossible to ride. This, in combination with our recently-acquired, horrific fear of Asian ...

... rest of the World, so we immediately had something to talk about with our travelling companions. Unfortunately, one of those companions was an incredibly angry Israeli man who insisted that the death of Jackson could only be positive as it meant there was &#8220;one less Muslim in the World&#8221;. Try that for a conversation killer.<br><br>On the minibus to Pakse, the angry Israeli man ranted furiously to the driver about ...

... lots of drunken 18 year old british public school kids.... lots of people in fancy dress.... rope swings at every bar which was fun to watch the guys do (I just took photos!) and one bar was called 'mud bar' where you could mud wrestle and play tug-of-war and stuff (we sound so boring and old but at this point we were just drinking beer sat in hammocks watching the krazy kids!!) <br>Most people get a tuk-tuk back from the last bar to town, but the boys wanted to tube back ...

... but there are no boards truly explaining the history. We then went to Haw Pha Kaew, which is supposed to be an impressive art museum. The Rough Guide to S.E. Asia apparently is way off base with this one. There wasn't much to see and we were completely under whelmed. At this point in the day, Sarah came down with some sort of stomach ailment which made her miserable. She rested the rest of the day and Hanan chilled out and worked on the blog.

... not too noisy and yet within walking distance of the heart of the city. By "city", I use the word loosely - by western standards it is more of a village. <br><br>Our first stop was the famous PHA THAT LUANG national monument in the centre of the city. This is the place where lots of people from all over the country come to visit. It reminded me of the Schwedagon Paya in Myanmar. Equally golden as ...

... i &#273;&#7891; &#273;&#7855;t, nên m&#7885;i ng&#432;&#7901;i &#273;&#7891;ng ý v&#7899;i tôi: &#273;&#7915;ng mua &#273;&#7891; công nghi&#7879;p gì n&#7919;a. M&#7897;t cái d&#7877; cho tôi r&#7891;i.<br><br><br><br>&#272;&#7871; n ch&#7907; t&#7889;i (Tà L&#7841;t M&#7907;t) &#7903; Luangprabang, tôi l&#7841;i liên t&#432;&#7903;ng &#273;&#7871;n Night Bazzar &#7903; Chiangmai, Thái Lan hay ch&#7907; &#272;&#7891;ng Xuân t&#7889;i cu&#7889;i tu ...

... as well. Many of the statues were impressive and intriguing, but the massive Reclining Buddha eclipses them all.<br><br>If you are into Buddhist philosophy or simply enjoy cultural relics, please check out my Buddha necklaces at www.loveliesbylindsey.etsy.com<br><br>< br>