I entered Laos down the Mekong River. I took a slow boat, which is a long boat stuffed with people and goods, that takes two days to get to Luang Prabang. During the night, we stop in a small village, where I had probably the worst bed I’ve ever slept in. LP was a nice town. It’s the second city in Laos, thought not much more then a village. I met a bunch of Canadians on the boat, and found some rooms with them. On my first night I ran into Vicky and Claire, who I had traveled with all through Malaysia and Thailand. They where were going to be there for the next couple of days, and were going on a tour the next day, but it was going to start too early, so I didn’t go. The Canadians and I instead hired our own transport, and went out the waterfall, which was amazing. Many pools, good swimming, lots of bars, some bears and tigers (?) and a very good day. As we came back we spotted a little fun fair, and stopped by for a while. They had a bouncy castle, and some strange local gambling game, it was interesting. Then for a somewhat long night at some bars, and such. Then next day was kind of a wash, just wondering about the town. All he Canadians ended up leaving this day, and I booked my bus for the following day. I did run into Claire and Vicky again, and hung with them for the evening, it was good to see them again. Next I was off to Phonsovan. The main attraction here was the plain of jars. An ancient area, where giant stone jars are in fields, presumably used as burial urns. This was also one of the most heavily bombed area’s of the Vietnam war. There are bombe craters all over the place, and paths that have to stay inside of, because outside these path, the mines have not bee cleared. It was a fascinating place, though the tour guide we had was just ok. Anyway, next I was off to Vang Viang. It was these two places that had made me want to come to Lao in the first place, the jars had always seemed like a crazy amazing place, and in Vang Viang, there was tubing down a river. And Vang Vieng was great. The day after I arrived I went tubing. And it was fun. First you take a tuk-tuk to the entry point in the river, with your tube. Then you float. At this time of year, it was slow. And there are this bamboo bars all along the side, some with rope swings, some with zip lines, all with Beer Lao. Good fun, I had a blast, the only thing is that because the river is so slow, at the end of the day, I had to paddle and walk my tube along the river a ways, to get back to town while the rental place was still open. The next day, I just decided to do absolutely nothing. I sat in a bar/restaurant, and watched movies all day. Funny thing is that for one of the movies Justin came in a watched it, though I didn’t know him yet. So, that was that day. The next day I wasn’t sure what to do. I had been running into people I knew, though not for long as they were all just leaving when I ran into them. But as I was waking out to get some breakfast, I ran into Eric and Jon, some guys I had met in Singapore, and kept running into all through Malaysia and Thailand. They hadn’t been down the river yet, so I said, lets go do it. And It was even more fun the second time, and I knew how our pacing should be and we were able to get back to town with out too much work. Good night, and hung out with them that night as well. The next day I went to Vientiane, with Eric, though he was taking a train back to Bangkok that evening. Vientiane was ok, and I just kind of wondered it. Spent a lot of time trying to find English books stores as I was nearly out of stuff to read. Had a very lovely evening and sat along to Mekong, watching the Sun set with a nice cold Beer Lao. The next day, I just kind of wondered more, as I was waiting for a night bus to take me down to Pakse. Now here’s where stuff gets interesting. I returned to my guesthouse, and waited to get picked up for the bus station. It came and on the transport, I met Justin and Chris. They had just met as well, and were talking about doing a bike trip around the Bolivan plateau. I had really wanted to go to this area, and this sounded like the best possible way to do, so I said I would come along. Anyway, so we got into Pakse, finally found somewhere to say (it was kind of an ordeal), and then went to find out where to rend the bikes from. We ended up going to the guesthouse that we wanted to stay at, though they were full, as they had competitive rates, better looking bikes, and the owner gave us amazing advice. The next morning we showed up and got our bikes, stored out big bags, and took off for our adventure. It was so nice. I had ridden motorbikes before, but not for any extended period of time, and it felt great to do so. Our first stop was a water fall, and when we were getting to the point we went to far, had to turn back, and then found one (we found out later that this was not the waterfall we were given directions to go see, but in this area of Lao, there are so many waterfalls, you can always find anther one.) We just had a glass of juice here, as there wasn’t good swimming, and we wanted to push on. So in the afternoon, we arrived at Tad Lo, kind of the main area in the Bolovan Plateua. It’s just a nice waterfall, but it the one place that there have been some guesthouse built up (about 5.) that was our first day of riding, it was only about 2, so had some lunch and then went swimming in the waterfall for a while. We had an enjoyable evening, met some interesting people, and then got ourselves invited to got to this local festival where they were supposed to be sacrificing a water buffalo. So we got up there, and found out the sacrifice wasn’t till the next morning, but it was interesting to see there little ceremonies. They had a special house where there were people canting, and sometimes they would come out, and with percussive instruments, walk around the house. The best part was interacting with the little kids, and there were there girls who just loved getting there picture take. So we stayed there for about an hour, and then returned, and went to bed. The following day, we road out, and was our first taste of riding on an unpaved road for a distance (today about 25k) this was also the end of seeing westerners for the rest of our tip, and almost no English either. We had lunch in the last decently large town (it had paved roads and an intersection) and just as were going to leave, Justin’s bike broke. Well, it was just his acceleration cable, but that’s enough. Luckily, we were in a town, and in this part of the world, there are a million bike repair shops. We pushed him bike to one, and got it repaired, quite fast and easy for no common language, and cheap too. So then we got on, and we were now an hour or so later then we wanted to be. So stopped by a waterfall that was on our itinerary, not especially interesting, considering all the other waterfalls that we had seen. We didn’t stay very long and pushed on. When we got the where a new guest house should have been, and where we through the waterfall was, we had no idea where to go. Here was no sign of it, other anyway, but barren fields. We finally asked someone we saw the name, and he told us to go down this road that looked like it went nowhere. But we followed, and lo and behold, we came to it. There only two rooms, and just enough space for us, but it was nice, and a great waterfall. Something really cool about was that they had rigged their own turbines in the waterfall, and that was how they got their power, amazing. So we went swimming, and eventually came in for dinner. Hung out and had a very pleasant night. In the morning we swam the waterfall again as it was very nice. But we decided to head out, as this was going to be our longest day. Shortly after starting out, we came to out turn off, where we were going to have to drive a longish way (80k) on dirt and bad roads. It was fun, but slow and harder. We stopped a little along the way and almost villages, and the locals all came out to look at us. Eventually, we made it though the road, and came to a town, where we had a lunch, good food. Then off to the first waterfall of the day. This one was very nice, with a large pool at the bottom of a 30-something meter fall. We hung out here for quite a while, and then as were going to leave, a bunch of locals our age invited us over to have been and jerky with them. Very nice, and I do love the people of this country so much. we stayed with them for a while until we had to leave, and then started to head back to pakse. We had one more stop and the large waterfall, about 90 meters, but something only to look at, as there was no way down. It was getting late, so we decided to get going at none of liked driving in the dark. We made it back to town, and wow, traffic, people, it had been a few days since we had seen these things. So we got back had dinner, and called it a fairly early night. So the next stop was si phon don, of four thousand islands. This is a place in the Mekong where the river gets very wide, and there are lots and lots of islands there, a few have been inhabited and lots of little guesthouses have come up. It really is one of the most relaxing place ever. There is no power to the island, and they use generators, so by 11, it’s very dark. I spent a week here, and didn’t do very much. Justin was there for the first four days, and chris the whole time, so I had a little company. I spent a lot of time in my hammock that overlooked the river, reading my book, and resting. I went out a little ad did a bike ride around, and one day did a tour to a big waterfall. Also one day rented a tube, and hung out loafing down the river. But it was just super relaxing, and I would have stayed longer, but my Vietnam visa was about to be come valid, and I kind of needed to move. I spent almost every sunset at my guesthouse bar, as they had wonderful mojito’s made with the local moonshine, lao-lao, for 50 cents! so I had another two nights before I left Lao, and it was mostly in transit, I got back to Pakse, had 4 hours till the overnight to Vientiane, then decided to spend one night, before the overnight to Hanoi. Kind of tiring, but met a few locals along to way, had some beers, and no left Lao living it, I need to go back, ahhhh.

So very quickly. I got my bus to bangkok, and they put me on the wrong bus. I got to the part where everybody was going onto ferries, and I was like, “Bangkok by bus”, and they were freeking out. well, then rushed me to another bus company, and I got on that bus so it all turned out fine, but it was a nice intrducktion for this leg of travel. I got in at 5:30 in the morning, and couldn’t be bothered to figure out where I was or where to go, so I went to a guest house that had a van there, and a cheap room. whell this guest house was not the best, but t served me for the time, and I started on my chores. I had a few things to do in bangkok, and very shrtly I really didn’t want to be there. I found a respectable travel agent to do my visas, and becase it was going to ake a week for them all, had them courriered to Chaing mai, so I didn’t have to stay in Bangkok that long. then I just wondered for a while, and walked ALOT. So the next day a switched over to a new accomadation, called Shanti Lodge, because how could I now stay there. this was much nicer, and to start enjoying myself more, as well as doing the rest of my errands, such at getting a jab, and booking a flight to Europe. SO then at the end of my three days I didn’t hate Bangkok anymore, and I’m sure that when I go back, and I do the tourist things, I’ll fave a good time, and now I know my way around the city. If only it didn’t have so much smog!! SO atthe end of that time, I cought a overnight train up to chaing mai, with a sleeper, the only way to travel.

Well, because internet was so expencive, and I’m way too lazy, I haven’t written about thailand yet. so here goes the first part.

Leaving langkawi, malaysia. we got to the ferry terminal about nine o’clock, the ferry was leaving about 9:30, and there was a huge line. we just all hoped that they wern’t going to leve on time. they didn’t and it was an OK trip. then we landed in thailand. now with every new country in asia, it seemed more and more like asia, and this was true here. the wait to go through customs was way too long, but we made it through. then we had to find a way to get up to krabi. so we got a bus from one of the touts at the terminal, who put us in the back of a truck, and too some bus on some road that we boarded. we wern’t sure when it was going to take off, and so didn’t get any food. it took off eventually, nad the drive but on a disk of kareoke thai pop songs. so bad, too loud. and then halfway there we stop. we ask how long, and they say five minutes, so not really enough time to get something to eat. 15-20 min later we leave, and this time and even worse, even louder music video is put on, truely terible. go we finally get to krabi, and now we have to get to the beach. it’s about six o’clock, and they keep saying the beach we want to go to (rialey) is all full, and so we eventually settle to go to ao nang, were we can get to rialey easily. the place we get to is OK, nothing special, but at least were here, and we can go eat. we are all a little (at least I am) iritable for not eating all day, and with the bad bus trip, but after eating, and getting our accomadation, everything seems better. We don’t do much here, just wonder a bit, and get used to being in thailand. It’s nice. The next day we head off for Rialey, and relaxation. so we hope on a longtail boat for our journey over.

Now abouta longtail boat: These are one of the greatest things I have ever seen. PIcture a long wooden fishing type boat, with a large moter on a long pole driving a propeller. I don’t know how they came up with it, but I think it’s amazing, only a little load.

SO then we make it over to Railey. again we leave two of us with the bags, and Vicky and myself head out to find us a place to stay. We look at almost every place, and the one at the very end, with the LONG stairs, is amazing. (this is a trend) SO we head back, it’s been about an hour, and gather the troups, and to our new abode. now we don’t really do much while here, we explore the area, but it’s not that big. sit on the beach a little, but the nice one is overcrowded with day trippers, and we have a reall nice pool at our resort. but for our first and last nights, I can describe them in one word, Bucket! and if you don’t know what that is, ask someone whose been two thailand. I really like Rialey, and was kind of sad to leave, but it was time to move on, and Jim had to make his way back to Singapore, so we left him, and I took off with the girls, our little party was dwindeling. It as a chore to make the 9:30 ferry to Phi Phi, because of the word I had said before, and Claire olmost didn’t make it, and she had our tickets. but eventually we made it on the boat, to the island, and found ourselve a not very nice place for our first night. The girls spent that first day alomost entirely in the room sleeping, and I made my was around the part of the island alittle. that evening, not wanting to do much, I just went to a bar and watched the beach, which was filled on Koh Phi Phi Ley. I had never seen it, and It was cool to see it where it was filmed. next we decided to move over to a much quiter beach called long beach, and again, we found a great place at the very end up a LONG stair. Over the next few days, we went on a boat trip around to the beaches and islands, a little lackluster, but did do a little snorkling, and saw a snake the freaked the shit out of me. and then I went diving. I did my first wreck dive, and I can see how you could spend alot of time doing these. we didn’t do alot at night, but it was very relaxing, and a nice place to be. But then it was time to go. The girls were headed to Samui, and me to Bangkok, the next great adventure.