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Hey all am back in Thailand and have had an absolutely amazing 3 weeks in Laos and Cambodia.
Laos - 16th - 28th January
Took tourist bus from Ventiane up to Vang Vieng - abslutely amazing journey - landscape is stunning - very hilly limestone karst valleys, little villages- many little wooden houses on stilits and lots of agricultural land and oh so clean - not a plastic bag in sight!! Lots of locals standing and gawping at the bus as it went past!
So cool got off the bus at the most beautiful bungalow resort - right on the river with the most amazing view of th hills behind. Bargained and got a good deal on a cute little bungalow with a veranda! Im going up in the world!
Wasnt planning on stopping in Vang Vieng as its unfortunately now renowned for westerners floaing down the river on big inner tubes and stopping off at bars and getting hammered! Not really my scene - luckily i was away from the town so didnt have to cope with noisy bars at night! Sure its loads of fun but there is so much more to see here.
Hired a bike (little shopper with no gears!) and cycled around area - just beautiful. Visited a couple caves - amazing - although took me back to 20 years ago when i went caving (much slimmer and more agile and less scared) It was like that pitch black and 2 young lads whisked us around through the tiniest of gaps - on my belly for most of it! A guy i had met up with en route managed to lose his mp3 player and keys in the cave - with the key that had our bikes locked together!!! Fun and games.
Bus up to Louang Prabang - a beautiful, french colonial town with beautiful wooden houses, 2 rivers surrounding it and many beautiful temples and many hundreds of monks. Very chilled place - a bit chilly and it rained - so glad i left my waterproof and jumpers in Bangkok! Many traditional crafts here - paper and silk seem to be the biggest crafts - visited a village where they make paper and silk which was really interesting. Again wishing i had more space in my bag to bring everything home! Only thing with staying in a buddhist area and near a temple is you usually get woken up by temple drumming at around 4am!
The monks here have a daily ritual routine - the giving of alms - at sunrise they walk alomg the streets and local people give them food - mainly sticky rice and fruit. Some of whch they were giving to the poor but apparently it is for then to eat throughout the day. It is an amazing sight to watch hundreds of orange robes gliding down the street - although it has become a bit of a tourist attraction!
Saturday 23rd January
Long bus ride down to Paxce - day bus back to Vientiane and then a night bus to Paxce - dead on my feet by the time we got there! Comfy busses and the night bus shared a very small bunk with luckily a very slim girl. Felt sorry for the 2 rugby built guys who were sharing 1 bunk!
Arrived in Si Phan Don - 4 thousand Islands about 30 hours later after a fun trip on a ferry accross the water - which was really planks of wood laid over the top of 2 hulls and as many cars and vans and people and food they could fit on!
Took a bus - a pick up truck with bench seating in back jammed packed full of people, bags of grain, shopping. Fun ride though and bought a chicken on a stick from passers by! Love it
4 Thousand Islands area - is stunning - as the name says on border of Cambodia/Laos right on Mekong. Spent a few days - staying a little rustic wooden hut with a hammock outside - very cool. Went swimming, cycled round the islands, ate some great fish and chilled!
The Lao peope are all really friendly, smily and lovely - and Laos is just stunning.
Thursday 28th January Bus ride into Cambodia - bit of a trek and had to wait ages at the border while they sorted out who was going where - looked like they had overbooked! Small plastic seats were put in the aisle of the coach and locals got on - so funny - so safe!! Stayed in cheap cheap place in Phnom pen h- had to change rooms 4 times as locks not working and water not working! Had been spoilt by Laos being so clean - Cambodia is not so clean. Day in Phnom Penh and visited the S21 Prison and killing fields from the Pol Pot Khmer Rouge. Absolutely horrendous, horrific - words cannot describe how atrocious ths regime was - nearly 3 million innocent people brutally tortured and murdered - very upsetting and to think this happened in my lifetime. Cambodians are the nicest, friendlienst, chattiest people i have ever met and they have had such a horrendous past. Visited Siem Riep / Angkor Wat - wow this place s absolutely stunning - many temples that have been pulled out of the jungle dating from 9th - 13th Century - many very much still intact - beautiful carvings and bas reliefs on all of them. Spent 3 days with my smily tuk tuk driver visiting as many as i could. Although very hot and humid here - so takes it out of you a bit! Could have spent weeks here - as very peaceful away from the tourist crowds. Thanks all for reading this far! Very impressed! Very excited now as Jen arrives in a few days and we have 2 weeks of fun In Bangkok and southern thailand - yay. Love to you all and see you real soon xx- comments