14th July 2007 - Vang Viene, Loas
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.
