A week off almost...

Well it's been a few days since I last posted, but I can explain. I've been on an island in southern Laos for 4 days, and it has electricity for 2 hours a day. I couldn't really bring myself to leave my comfy hammock or the beach, so you'll have to accept my apologies.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Last you heard we were intending to kayak from Vang Vieng to Vientiane with a guy we met on a minibus called Mikael. Great guy, funny stories, unfortunately Swedish. So one morning last week (don't ask me when, all the days are blurring here) we got up at 7.30am, and fighting a hangover, made our way by songtaew to the river. We were given our 10 second kayak lesson (good thing we'd all kayaked before so it was pointless anyway) and off we set. It's been a while since I last kayaked properly, however these plastic two-seaters (me in the back, Matt in front) were pretty easy to handle. Because it's the dry season, the river was rather tame, and although there were a few faster patches, it was mainly still water, and one GIII-IV rapid. That in itself was pretty cool, and getting hit broadside by a surge of water will make your butt clench every time, but we managed to keep ourselves upright and relatively dry. Our lunch was made for us by our guides, some pre-prepared rice, but also freshly grilled chicken and veggie skewers which saw us over till dinner.

All in all we only had about 4 hours on the water, and we were then met by a minivan to take us the rest of the way. Apparently it would take 3 days to get there by river, and although the three of us were keen, there just isn't enough demand for them to take us.

On the kayaks we met a girl from Manchester, and a rather hairy guy from the states who shaved his arms (and only his arms, bizarre?!) and for the next 3 days in Vientiane (the Laos capital) the five of us hung out.

There's not much to say about Vientiane really. It's relatively busy, the accommodation is expensive, and there's not a whole lot to do. Some of the restaurants are superb however, and there are stalls and open restaurants all along the river which do great food. Matt and I were unfortunately struck down by some stomach bug which meant we weren't in a mood to do much of anything, but we did manage to get ourselves out on occasion. The strangest thing was the karaoke in the bowling alley, which assured us they had English songs, but no list. After writing approx 30 songs to find out they didn't have any, we were ready to leave as a local guy started singing Ronan Keating 'When you say nothing at all'. Now I'm not Ronan's greatest fan, but I felt robbed!

As Mikael was only out for a few weeks and was staying in Vientiane, Matt and I, along with Abi (manc girl) and a Filipino girl called Lyn looked into hiring a car and driving down to Pakse and 4000 Islands. This didn't quite materialise due to cost, and so the 4 of us went to the bus station and took a 12 hour sleeper bus. Matt and I had bought a ticket each, but later found out that we were expected to sleep on a bed no wider than single and no longer than from my knee to my shoulders. Together. As we were there rather early, we grabbed a 'double' each, and luckily were able to keep these for the duration.

Not really much to say about Pakse either, apart from a few nice enough waterfalls. Abi and Lyn met a Canadian guy called Ben, and the next day the 5 of us made our way to 4000 Islands.

This turned out to be another songtaew for 3 hours, which to me meant cramp in the knees and listening to the iPod, and to the two girls sat in the back a bodywash in dirt and dust. One interesting point - the bus stopped about 4 times en route, and each time we would be mobbed by ladies selling food on sticks. These could be as (potentially) harmless as banana or chicken, but a fellow traveller decided to buy roasted beetles instead. And they didn't taste all bad. Just a bit crunchy, and not particularly nice when the flavour had gone and you're left with chewing the skin and head.

What to say about 4k Islands. It's beautiful. We stayed in a bungalow each, which consisted of nothing other than a double bed and mosquito net, with a hammock on the porch. These cost us less than £2 a night each, but we made up for that at the bars! Apart from the beach, the main place to go in the evening was a place called Reggae Bar. To give you some idea of the type of place it was, it had it's own special 'Happy Holidays' menu, complete with 'Joint, Big', 'Joint, Small', and 'Bag full of Happy'.

Apart from 6-10pm, there was no electricity apart from where a particular restaurant would have its own generator, and that meant our days there were extremely chilled. I'd either be in my hammock reading, or on the beach. It was far too hot to be inside the bungalow during the day (think Sauna) but in the evening it cooled down, and each night the temp was comfortable. Not to say I slept, the amount of creepy crawlies buzzing around, not to mention cats fighting (or shagging, who knows) geckos burping and scorpions rattling around meant that most nights I only slept a few hours. Or maybe it was the weed.

Our last night there we had a humongous storm which was awesome to behold. Also a little bit off-putting to sleep during. Even though I was inside, I could still make out the lightning flashes behind my closed eyelids.

Abi Lyn and Ben left the day before us, however we seem to be following their trail back up Laos and towards Vietnam. Yesterday Matt and I got our Vietnamese VISAs at a cost of 15 minutes and US$50 each, and today we begin our 30 hour journey with another 12 hour sleeper bus. Spooning here we come...