up early, tuk tuk collects us at 7.45 to bring us to th ebus station. have to go back to vientiene to get a flight. we have paid for the "VIP" bus, so slightly better than the normal bus. but when we check in, we are put on the "express" bus instead. it claims to only take 8 hrs, but since it took us 11hrs to do that journey a few days ago. i am doubtful that it will be any faster!! anyway, we are in the second last seat and when the guy opposite me puts his bag up on the rack, his very large automatice gun catches my eye!! he needs a longer coat to conceal it properly!! teh buses on this route all have an armed "passenger" on board to prevent buses carrying tourists from being held up!! Now I feel safe!! anyway, for some reason, we have both forgotten to buy supplies for the journey - a school girl error at this stage of the game!! so as the bus only stops when the driver feels like it, hunger sets in after a few hours. finally he stops for a toilet break - the side of teh road again!! so, get off the bus and face a dilema. in a coutry that is riddled with land mines, going too far behind bushes may not be a good idea. so i decice to risk my decency as opposed to my limbs and pick a very open spot quite close to the roadside. but, i have cleverly gone behind a goat for some privacy - stupid goat moved!! back on the bus and a few hours later we get a 20 min break for lunch. so a bread roll and some laughing cow spreadable cheese will have to do!! back on board and we finally get to vang viene and most of teh bus gets off. so i move up a few seats to spread out. to my delight, the gunman follows me and sits behind me again!! continue on and it starts lashing out of the heavens. my window leaks, so i stuff it with toilet paper to stop it raining in on me! so after about 11hrs, we arrive in vientiene, find somewhere to stay and flop into bed.

22nd July 2007

sleep in and spend most of the day on the internet. go for a wander around town. there isnt much to do in vientiene and as its sunday, absolutely everything is closed. so not much for today.  

up early (again!!) -  going elephant trekking today. get picked up  and meet the other two people that will be with us. head out of town and down a seriously bumpy side road to the elephant camp. just as we arrive, 4 elephants appear out of the trees and walk past us. they are just enormous!! they have passengers on their back in a kind of seat thing. so we follow the elephants up to a small area where its our turn to go for a ride. you climb onto a platform thing and the elephant comes up to you and you basically stand on his back to get on. the mahout (elephant handler) we get is a bit of a perve. he keeps feeling my legs and rubbing the burnt bits! he is also making strange noises!! so off we go into the jungle. its a strange sensation, being rocked about so far off the ground. its a bit scarey when the elephant goes down hill, as i keep thinking im going to tip over its head. Mr pervert sees every downhill as an opportunity to hold my legs to "protect me"!! its really cool. we are behind the other three elephants and let me tell you that elephants farts do not smell of roses!!! and their pooh is the size of a small football!! plod down to the river and the elephants go into the river, with us on board, in order to get back onto the jungle path. by the way, elephant pooh floats!!  head back to the camp and have lunch. the camp is very nice. we get a hut fo rth enight to sleep in. its reaised off the groud on stilts and has a fab balcony. after lunch we go tubing. flop into our tires and away down the river we go. its brilliant - much better than in Vang Viene, as the river is much faster and it has rapids. this is the same river wher the elephants and buffalo have been using as a toilet!!however, i do manage to run aground and hit a tree!!! when we get to the end, Emer has overshot the finish, so has to walk back to us. its priceless. she has to walk through some buffalo, so all we can see is a massive orange tire moving and buffalo scattering in all directions!!  back at camp, we learn some "mahout" lauguage, in order to control the elephants. we are given some very attractive denim tyoe clothes to put on - fabulous. i do love elasticated waistlines!!  so i manage to end up with the largest elephant and they get him to bend down so i can climb up. well, it gives everyone around a great laugh!! they are all in hysterics, including the elephant guys. so i put one foot on the elephants knee and the mahout starts to pull me up while the guy on the ground starts to push me up, using my ass as a gripping area!! best of all, the others have it all on camera!! finally, im up and have to grab onto teh elephants ears to pull myself up around its ears. they feel very weird!! its extremely hot up here, especially when he flaps his ears over your legs. it wanders around a little while the others get on theirs. but fear gets the better of me and i ask to get down. so they get the elephant to sit down and i have to climb down his leg to get off. its more like sliding and falling, but find groung at last!! its time to walk the elephants back into the jungle for the night. walk back to camp and its off for a shower immediately. well, actually the shower consists of a very large bucket of cold water and a smaller scoop bucket and you pretty much throw buckets of water at yourself in order to wash. who knew that chucking buckets of cold water over yourself could be so refreshing!!! still cant get all the elephant muck out from under my nails though!! head over for dinner, which is delicious. stay up chatting for a few hours before we all go to sleep.

20th July 2007

wake up at 6am and its lashing rain. i have been eaten alive by bugs during the night, so now my legs are lobster red from being burnt and now are all lumpy form being biten - fantastic!! on with the sexy elasticated denimesque outfits and off to get the elephants. because of the heavy rain, we are not allowed into th ejungle to find the elephants. they will bring them back to camp for us. after a while they arrive and they are given a good hosing down and fed. then the fun begins! everyone gets on bareback again, but I decide its not for me again. so we all head down to th eriver through the jungle and into the river so th eelephants can wash. its really cool. the big male one keeps splashing around and throwing water around with his trunk.  back to camp for food. then Emer and I go bamboo rafting and th eothers go kayaking. so  we get two tubes and get on to a bamboo raft with two guides and head off down the river. they paddle like a gondola. its fab, but feel a bit lazy as the two guys are doing all the work. its really cool and after running aground and releasing ourselves, we go for a tube in the river. again, mine is really slow and two small local boys pass me. this is a great opportunity for them to use their oars and splash the silly tourist!! anyway, after some very unladylike manouvering, i manage to flip myself over and paddle back ot the raft. float along for a bit as we have a picnic lunch on the raft. its begining to get a little grey and suddenly the heavens open. I mean monsoon style rain. at one point, i cant actually see in front of me cos the rain is that heavy! im begining to shiver as its gone really cold. so  get into teh river as its warmer and swim alongside the raft.  it takes about 25 mins before we can get out and we walk to a small village. we have to wait for the tuk tuk to collect us, so we just sit in a shop and wait. we are clearly becoming an attraction and word is spreading that some seriously white people are in town!! people, especially kids, are all coming over to the shop to buy random items!! head back to camp and get changed. they drop us back in town and just relax for th eevening.

relaxing day, just potter around town to see what is has to offer. the museum is incredible. one of the buildings is a temple and is covered in gold. the detail is spectacular. teh monastry is also pretty impressive. again, tons of gold everywhere and some of the smaller buildings are just full of character. the heat is unbearable and my legs are in bad shape after getting burnt, so they now look like i have some strange disease!! very attractive!! there are loads of monks wandering around. most of them seem to be really young boys. have to sort out how we are going to leave Loas (in a few days) and arrange transport to cross the border in southern Loas into Cambodia. not having much luck and anyone we spoke to seems to say avaoid crossing it if possible. so we end up having to shell out US$145 to book a flight to Phnom Penh.

18th July 2007

got for breakie and potter around town. the heat is insane. see a load of monks and decide to follow them to see where they are coming from. get to a temple and its covered in yellow and white flags and banners. one of the high monks died and there are preparations for his funeral. that explains why there are so many monks here! decide to have a snooze, to avoid being outside in the heat. later on, check out the night market. full of the usual stuff, silk scarves, t-shirts, jewellery etc. get a few bits and go to watch a dvd and then off to bed.

nice easy day today. just wander around town. nice place, pretty relaxed. have breakfast and play on the internet for a few hours. Loas is one of the few countries that doesnt accept Visa and you can only get money from teh one ATM in town with a mastercard (seriously who has mastercard these days!!!) and as its a saturday, im a bit buggered! thankfully, US dollars are accepted everywhere, so have to dig into my dollar stash and live that way. its lashing rain, so just spend the rest of the day watching a marathon of Friends and enjoying "beer Loas".

 15th July 2007

up early to go tubing today - cant wait. get our tubes and get into the back of a tuk tuk with the inner of a tractor tire!! we go about 10 mins out of town and the guy stops at a river bank and indicates that we are to just get in! so make a very ungraceful flop into the tube and away i go. its great fun. you pretty much float down the river and there are bars all along the riverside that they pull you into for a beer! excellent! pitstop along the way for a few drinks and wander into one of teh caves for a look. its absolutely boiling hot - I have factor 50 on and still manage to get very badly burnt. anyway, float on down to where you are supposed to get out. Emer is already out, as she was ahead of me. the current is quite fast and i am on the wrong side to get out. so i try to paddle over to the other side - no joy. i try to stand up, but i am being dragged along the rocks. I need help, as th eriver is getting the better of me. so two small local girls jump in to get me. They couldnt have been more than 8!! Emer has jumped in to try and get to me as well. its hilarious in a strange way!! the two kids get to me first and grab me and manage to drag me in to shore!! they have done this before. then, I have to pay them!! begin to notice a few local kids hanging around and realise that they are waiting to rescue tourists that arent used to being in rivers!! there are a few small huts serving food and drinks, so end up sepnding the rest of the day sipping G&T's in a hammock and chatting to some of the other tubers. Life is tough!!

 16th July 2007

up early, getting the bus to Luang Prabang today. its only 200km, but takes approx 7hrs cos the road is so windy. its all mountain and jungle, so cant exactly go anywhere fast. there are 8 of us in the minivan, so our stuff gets straped on to the roof! teh scenery along the way is really stunning. its all green and the landscape/rock is similiar to that in Halong Bay. again, manage to avoid random chickens and buffalos along the road!! stop at a "restaurant" and notice that there is a monkey, which is slightly nuts, tied to teh tree!! they have also nailed a few big beautiful butterflies to the tree out front. we contemplate releasing them, but decide to stay quiet. they are certainly into animal cruelty here - dont want to know what is in my food!!! get to Luang Prabang and find somewhere to stay. its a nice town. the whole place is a UNESCO world heritage town - very relaxed and very pretty. potter around for a bit and have dinner.  

Must have got some sleep , as dont remember arriving at the border. it finally opens at 7am and we all shuffle inside to go through immigration & get our visas. talk about disorganisation - you have to go to various different counters to get it all stamped and paid for. not to mention, that we a re all aware that the "additional fees" amounts to the beer money for the corrupt officials behind the counter!! then one guy says to Emer that she will have to go back to Vietnam, as her passport doent have a full blank page for a Loas visa stamp. so after some pleading and an "extra" charge of US$10, he magically inserts an extra page and all is sorted!!anyway off we go and you can instantly see the difference from Vietnam. there is no insane traffic and all you have to avoid on the roads are random buffalo and chickens which raom freely on the streets!! continue on and again after a few hours the driver needs to pee - so all off and into another bush!! two of the girls on the bus have only started travelling and are going "we cant just squat on the side of the road". well, if I learned nothing else from being on the road, its that if the bus stops, you pee. you dont know when you will be able to again!! all off again and he finally stops for food. stop at a random house thing in the middle of nowhere and thankfully, some guys helps us order, as there is no menu. but its pretty much rice with chicken/pork/beef/veg. back on the bus for a few more hours - no one knows when we are due to arrive!! the scenery is amazing, all lush mountains and paddy fields. there are some small communities along the way - all living in tiny bamboo houses. get to Vientiene about 2pm - a lot earlier than expected. 6 of us decide to keep moving and continue on to vang viene. so get a tuk tuk across town to the other bus station. buy our tickets and ask which bus it is. well, they point at a complete banger, which is already overloaded with everything imaginable on the roof!! so the question is, where do the rucksacks go?? it doesnt take long before we find out - they open a window and throw the rucksacks in!! so thankfully the bus is empty enough that we can spread out and get a window - shockingly, no air con!!! but its back to the dilema of either open the window and dela with the dirt or close the window and sweat like crazy!! the dirt option wins, im already pretty filthy, so a bit more wont make much difference!! get to Vang Viene about 8pm. just check in and go for dinner. watch some episodes of friends - all the restaurants have big teles with friends dvds. flop into bed with no intention of getting up early tom.