Nov 26, 2009 - project...

arrived in luang prabang today...we're in a specky hotel :) got the community project starting tomorrow so I want have much time to email after this. Laos is PRETTY AS all green and foresty. i love it. there are millions of cows walking the streets and chooks and cute kids. the driving windy road through the mountainswas sickening!!! my back hurts alread!!!! not really. made lots of new friends so i'm happy :):):) speak to you hopefully next week :) miss you loads xoxoxoxoxoxoXoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox AMY

Nov 22, 2009 - Vang Vieng - Vientiane

Its been a couple of days since I last posted. Leslie and I crossed over into Laos and had a really good french lunch in the capital city of Vientiane. Then took a bus for the three and a half hour trip to Vang Vieng. Laos has some really nice country. It was a good bus ride and the first time on trip where I encountered the locals eating bugs. At one of the stops there were some guys having a beer and snacking on grasshoppers. They were happy to share with all the tourist on the bus. Leslie and I had a beer and sampled the grasshoppers....

Oct 26, 2009 - Getting the Tube

I finally managed to haul my sorry-ass, beachbum behind off Ko Phan-Ngan. I was very comfortable and relaxed, but had the the nagging worry I may become symbiotic with my hammock if I stayed much longer - a hummock (that's a human-hammock for those not in with the portmanteau lingo). I had plans to go across to the west islands, Ko Phi Phi and Phuket, but the monsoon season was threatening and the islands were pretty quiet, so I decided to give myself at least 6 weeks to do the Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia circuit and booked an overnight bus...

Sep 27, 2009 - Laos

Well I have been so very slack with keeping up with the trip journal this time and now I have to try to think back to what we have done and I know I will miss out on so many important things and it wont be my usual passionate style of writing, but I know most of you just like looking at the pictures anyway! So we had been to Laos on our last trip and enjoyed it so much we decided to go back to our favourite spots, Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. When we finally arrived into Luang Prabang, after our epic bus journey! One of the first things we...

Sep 17, 2009 - Kayaking the Nam Song

We're in Vang Vieng now, which is about a 6 hour bus ride south of Luang Prabang. And what a bus ride it is! The scenery alone was worth the money for the bus. Plus there were only 8 people on the bus, 4 of which were working for the bus company. We drove through river valleys, misty mountain tops and rural villages along one of the 'crookedest' highways I've ever been on. Laos has got to be one of, if not, the most beautiful countries I've ever been too. It's also one of the most laid back and friendly. Vang Viang is most famous for...

Jun 20, 2009 - Vang Vieng

Well, what can I say, I mean who really believed that Garreth's bad luck would hold off for the entire trip? He's sprained his ankle... ohhhh Garreth... The bus trip from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng was uneventful and quite painless actually, and Vang Vieng is touristy but amazingly beautiful. From our $10/night riverside bungalow we have amazing views of the tubers floating by and the giant limestone (I think?) karsts across the river. I got some really nice sunset shots last night. Anyways, so the famous things here to do are tubing,...

Apr 10, 2009 - Vang Vieng, Laos

We bought "VIP" bus tickets to take us from Vientiane to Vang Vieng. This is funny only because the VIP Bus is not what you would expect. With our luggage strapped to the roof and the bus windows open for air conditioning we were both in great spirits - tuned into our iPods, eating soda crackers and loving Laos and life. About halfway through the six hour trip we watched in shock as the bus' left rear tire flew off, passed the bus and took out the side of the upcoming bridge. There was no fixing the tire so we sat stranded by the roadside...

Apr 6, 2009 - Comment se faire siphonner son énergie?

Comment puis-je décrire cet endroit en une seule phrase. Village peuplé de touristes morons sans aucun respect des coutumes du pays englués dans des restos présentant des séries étasuniennes du type Friends, The Simpsons et Family Guy toute la journée. Le paysage est tout de même magnifique. De hautes montagnes se dessinnent au loin et le couché de soleil est ravissant. Nous sommes allé escalader une montagne pour avoir une vue globale de l'endroit. Dans ladite montagne, il y avait une grotte. Dans la grotte, il y avait un Erik qui était en...

Mar 27, 2009 - Vang Vieng

A four hour bus ride from Vientiane found me in Vang Vieng on Tueday afternoon, arriving in the middle of a monsoonal downpour. The drive there was just gorgeous and I can see exactly why so many travellers have been raving to me about the beauty of Laos. The scenery is incredible, very mountainous and completely picturesque. I had made a reservation a a guesthouse earlier as Fran was arriving on a later bus than me and we needed a meeting point. The guesthouse was decidedly dodgy and exceedingly dirty so we spent a night there and moved...

Mar 26, 2009 - Vang Vieng

I initially wanted to come to Vang Vieng for the tubing, which is basically where all the tourist hop into the inner tubes of tires, float down the river and get drunk at the bars that are dotted ever 20 metres or so. Okay, so I know that sounds horribly touristy, but I was feeling like letting my hair down a little, and speaking to several British tourist, I thought it would be fun! However, on arrival in Vang Vieng, where a gorgeous sunset greeted me from behind the mountains, I was a little appalled by the overcrowded tuk tuks driving...

Mar 12, 2009 - Vang Vieng

So i spent a few more days in Luang Prabang just relaxing and eating some delicious food. After that i hopped on a bus to Phonsavan to check out the mysterious Plain of Jars. Phonsavan is located in an area of the country that was heavily bombed by the Americans during the war. This became pretty evident when guesthouses and restaurants in the town were decorated with bomb shells and various other war scrap. The next morning i set out on a tour to check out the jars. The plain of jars are basically various sites that are littered with these...

Mar 12, 2009 - Vientiane

What a little capital. With something like 500,000 people, it feels very much like a little town rather than the Countries hub. We got into town around noon yesterday and after a quick lunch I did all the site seeing I could handle (41*C is NOT comfortable to walk around in!!). I visited the Presidential Palace, a day market, looked at the Mekong Riverbed (because there is no water because it is so dry here- essentially you could walk across the river to thailand), and to this arc de triumf looking structure. It actually has a good story-...