Laos March 09 the next chapter....

Me looking very worried - can you see the fear?

One of the amazing sunsets over the Mekong outside our room.

This is the road system on Don Khon (4,000 Islands - Si Phan Don).

Don Khon

You can see the French influence in this derelict building in the grounds of the local school.

French Music festival on the night we arrived in Vietianne, amazing; live music, french cheese, bread and red wine - we were in heaven!

Typical housing on the hill side villages

One of the hefferlumps we rode on down the river and into the forest, it was so peaceful.

Our accommodation in Laos!!

4,000 Islands - This is the area where the rare Irrawaddy dolphins inhabit - but we did not spot any.

Andrew searching for the dolphins, the eternal explorer!

After we crossed over in to Laos in Huay Xai ( a tiny border town which consisted of one main street, a few guest houses which were holes lol and about 3 places to eat), we discovered that there were 2 options to get to our next destination Luang Prabang by water; either a two day slow boat (which looked like it had seen better days) or a 6 hour speedboat ride down the Mekong! guess which one we decided on! I started to get a little worried when they handed out massive crash helmets and life jackets for the smallest boat you have ever seen! lol

Uncomfortable does not even begin to describe that journey , it made the 12 hour bus journeys seem like a heavenly walk in the park on an extremely sunny but not too hot day!lol

Imagine sitting on a plank of wood with ZERO leg room, travelling along quite strong currents, choppy water at about 70 miles an hour! It was like hitting concrete at that speed, numb bum ?

We did get to stop off half way though in Pak Beng, another VERY small town built up over the years simply from tourism, people stopping off or staying overnight. After the commercialism, conveniences and luxuries of Thailand only a day or so ago, this was the biggest wake up call to a new and drastically different country anyone could ever have!

Especially not even proper toilets, just holes in the floating houses floors which drop straight into the river - the very same river we were getting sprayed with on the boat and people wash, brush teeth and fish in! nice!

We survived to tell the tale and will certainly never forget that experience!

Opening performances aside, Laos was probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been!

The people are wonderfully friendly, happy, welcoming even more so than Thailand they would do anything to try and accommodate you.

We then made our way to the capital Vientiane, the most laid back capital in the world lol.

When we arrived there in the evening and there was a music festival on , we could have been in France! Cheeses, breads, wines and music and lots of french people! it was amazing!

We then moved onto the south of Laos, the 4,000 Islands!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!

Apartments on stilts on the river(bottom of the Mekong where it fans out into all of these tiny Islands, some of which are inhabited), no electricity (only some guest houses have a generator so you get a light bulb and a fan from 6pm till 10pm! luxury!lol no roads, no cars, just pathways and mopeds, no fridges just ice boxes everywhere with daily deliveries from the man on the river with a boat full of blocks of ice! crazy to even comprehend but simply beautiful and relaxing and amazing!

Absolutely loved Laos!

Next installment Cambodia...........................