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Laos...lovely lush Laos! Well....the paperwork was finally accquired on monday morning and we headed across the border into Laos...only after a final look round the markets in Mengla(enough to put you off your breakfast...yes even me). The border crossing was uneventful....again, though we did have to bid farewell to John our guide(being honest though we would probably not have got lost quite so many times without him....but he was a nice chap!). First night in Laos was spent camping in yet another red quarry type thing.....my poor tent is suffering now...not sure how I'm going to clean it to get it into Oz. Oh well a whilr before I have to worry about that!.
So onto Luang Prabang we went....taking a convenient 150km detour(accidental) to Pakbeng. Excellent...I could do the boat trip down the Mekong I wanted to but was finding logistically difficult! So 21 of us toddled off to hire a boat to take us to Luang Prabang. Twas wicked....picture this....beerlaos x 4, Baguette x 2(first proper bread since Turkey), eggs, mayo, tomatoes, laughing cow cheese, abig boat all to ourselves and my feather pillow! Oh heaven! The scenery was simply stunning and we had a wicked storm on the way down the Mekong! Was slightly shocked to arrive in Luang Prabang and be surrounded by people with white skin....hadn't seen that many westerners since....Turkey! It hit me then....the hard stuff is over and we now have to shareour surroundings with hundreds of other tourists....oh well(more chance of pulling maybe!)
Visited the wats, gave Alms(providing food for the monks at 6am in the morning), wandered the markets, ate baguettes, drank coffee, ate more baguettes drank more coffee and then came the 2 for 1 cocktails in celebration of Ave becoming a year older. There was a great turnout and Ave was finding it difficult to stand upright by 10pm! We did manage to make it to the Vietnam bar (the unofficial late bar probably run by the mafia)where we stayed until 3am! Dragged ourselves out of bed at 9am and headed for a much needed dip in the turquiose pools of Tat Kuang Si waterfalls....bliss!
The truck left for Plain of Jars and I stayed a day longer in LP with Martin, Dave, Polly and Will....nice to chill a little more! More baguettes, more coffee, more markets and a Laos massage.....not sure why the 2 girls massaging Dave and Martin were giggling...but they were a little coy afterwards! Unintentionally spent the evening in Hive bar(again) to bid Dave farewell as he is leaving us until Darwin. Returned to our hotel balcony and enjoyed the company of Ny(guesthouse girl) until the wee small hours. Martin and I meant to get the 6.30am bus to Vang Vieng...but after only 2 hours sleep decieded to go for the 8.30am bus....sleeping most of the way!
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