Onto Vang Vieng and I'm already wishing I'd headed to the relatively untainted north. Vang Vieng is a party town primarily. The number one pastime for the travellers here is 'tubing' which involves sitting in a lorry inner tube, floating down the river from 3km upstream and getting wasted at the purpose-built bars along the way. To me it's just an 18-30s Laos booze cruise and most participants don't show the common courtesy of covering themselves up when they're ...

First of all I must apologise for the long delay on writing this. A few of you have asked me why and the answer is that I'm far too busy most of the time. Busy doing nothing but observing most of the time which for me is what traveling and writing are about so I'm sure you'll forgive me. Internet connections out here don't help much either and I've found that with typing on Off Exploring each character typed takes 3 seconds to appear on the page which doesn't rea...

My base camp is the home of a Thai friend/interpreter who has asked me to come to this hill tribe as the majority have not seen farang before and nobody has stayed there since some missionaries came to buy wood 30 years ago. She's childhood friends with a kind-faced, young man named Surt who teaches about nature and the environment at a school which serves several villages and has just under a hundred students. Her house is also the location of her parent's resta...

Few days since my last entry and much to tell but I don't have time so I'll keep it short. Road trip with three Thai girls to Kho Ka which has an amazing temple and is near Lumphang an area rarely visited by farang. I have been taught the proper way to show respect in a Buddhist temple as well as prayer and rituals. This has set me in good stead for temples since then as Thai's have commented to my Thai friends that it's beautiful to see farang showing respect ...

Spot of sight seeing today while I'm in limbo. Instead of going for the easy option and join a group I know I need to be away from the madding crowd so I conquer an old fear while re-joining an old friend - the motorbike. I'm told a moped will struggle to make the climb to Doi Suthep and before too long I realise why. Reluctant to aggravate my back; I'm thankful I didn't chance the trekking on this one. Doi Suthep is home of a very old temple but further up the...