Laos

Another country to fall in love with.  And this time I'm not sure why as there weren't any particular highlights as such.  But the people were really lovely, noone tried to run you down or used their horn continuously (a welcome change from the madness of China) and the country is really chilled.  Plus Jenn and I made it our mission to eat at all the Indian restaurants we could find and they were all brilliant!

We pitched up in Luang Namtha, a lovely wee place with a great Indian (though my first meal was Pho, a gorgeous noodle soup which you have to season yourself, or get Zoe to do so the first time).  Someone had the bright idea of booking a cycle ride so most of us went off in the heat the next morning for a tour round a couple of local villages and then up to a waterfall.  Great idea in theory, but hard saddles and bumpy roads led to a lot of wincing and an inability to sit down on hard surfaces for a few days!

Rice

Dried eels

Some kind of catfish perhaps?  They were alive but didn't seem to need water.

Live frogs for sale.  To be eaten whole.  Staked through their back legs.

Water buffalo blood, congealed and cubed.

Rice paddies

Denis at a whiskey still!

Don't know what this kid was up to, but he seemed happy!

Spinning silk from cocoons

Making rice noodles

Weaving

Rice again

Lunch at the waterfall

Aoife & Lucy with cocktails (we're so civilised!)

From there we went to a wee tiny little one road place called Nong Khiew (or a variant on that spelling) where we stayed in the most rustic accommodation so far, but it was perfect: little huts with balconies overlooking the river.  The most we managed to get up to here was a walk down the road, a thigh high fording of a river and climb up to some caves.  But it was lovely and we "employed" a little kid to guide us the 50m or so from the river to the bottom of the stairs!

View from our balcony

Stairs up to the caves

Beautiful

We, rather glamorously* left Nong Khiew and travelled by boat down a tributary of the Mekong to the mighty Mekong and to a fab wee town called Luang Prabang.

* there were 2 boats: one had comfy seats, a toilet and was dry inside, one was the complete opposite.  I was on the latter!

Luang Prabang is pretty touristy, but there are some really beautiful temples/wats and a palace and Jenn and I spent a lovely day having a wander round town, looking in on some of the sights, before it was time to shower off all that sweat and dress up for Zoe and Susan's engagement party down by the river.  Much booze and cake was consumed by all and it was a really lovely night.

A touch of rain, Luang Prabang (we're travelling in the rainy season!)

Palace, Luang Prabang

Wat, Luang Prabang

Reclining buddha, Luang Prabang

View of the Mekong from the wat at the top of the hill, Luang Prabang

These were for sale on the street.  The white things are split open carefully with a knife to reveal the wriggly brown thing within.  No idea what they are!

Food at the night market.  Look closely to see the pig's head.

And then the carnage began: we were off to Vang Viene.  For those of you in the know (I'm thinking of you Louise!) I hope you're proud of me!  For those yet to be indoctrinated, the town is famous for one thing - essentially an inner-tube based pub crawl down the river.  The less said the better.  (G'dad - to avoid you disinheriting me you might want to bypass the next few photos!)

In the tubes

Getting hosed down after a mud bath!

Mud bath

Drinks are served in buckets

And from there it was to our final stop, in Vientiane (or Wien Chen as it's known to the locals - damn those French!).  It would be quite a lie to say that this place has anything really going for it, but it was an ok place to spend a couple of days.

Durian fruit for sale

Concrete version of the Arc de Triomphe

Even the official sign at the bottom of this monstrosity recognises it for what it is:
"From a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete."

Frog for tea?

Local whisky, "Smooth & Mellon"

We said goodbye to Laos (and the truck for a few weeks) and hopped on a night bus to Vietnam.  Much whinging ensued, and granted, it wasn't all that comfortable, especially the four hours where the air con was turned off and we were parked up in the grounds of a brothel, but I thought it was fine.  Not up to Argentinian night bus standards perhaps, but fine.