18th-22nd Nov

We didn`t have that great a time in Laos, so I`m sure this`ll be pretty short. It`s a really nice country, chilled, nice scenery etc, and we did have some fun... Some. But it`s a nightmare to travel around, add at least 3 hours onto any journey time you`re given for a start, and there`s actually nothing there. I had such high hopes for Laos, I`d never really heard much about it. So whenever another "traveller" spoke about it I`d tell them I didn`t really know what to expect. Almost all of them jump into some huge rant about how it`s the most amazing place in the world and blah blah blah. Let me tell you now, it`s not. To be honest I don`t really think anyone`s missing too much by not going there.

I think people, especially idiot travellers, get "The Beach" effect, and if they`ve been to a place no-one knows about it instantly becomes their favourite country, essentially because they thinks it makes them seem cool. I think 75% of tourism in Laos is basically people who`ve gone there after hearing people tell them how amazing it is. Then because they`ve gone to such lengths to get there, they have to say the same to anyone they meet and it`s a big vicious circle. Anyway, enough of all that, like I said, we did have a bit of fun at least.

We`d paid to get to Laos on a 2 day slow boat, Teresa was really ill, and on the way we`d realised we were pushed for time. After yesterday`s 8 hour bus journey 2 days seemed a bit long. So on cue, the nice Laos man told us for a few extra quid we could get a luxury 7 hour bus, straight there. Basically saving us money since we`d have to pay for food and sleep tonight. I don`t know why we haven`t learned! We signed up for it, so did the Coventry girls we`d met on our trek.

The 7 hour, luxury air conditioned trip didn`t materialise. There were ten of us in the mini bus, which couldn`t fit all our luggage in, so we all had bags crushing our legs. The trip actually took nearer 12 hours too, over the bumpiest "roads" in the world. A Polish guy on the bus nearly beat up the driver after 8 hours, trying to get our money back since we`d been ripped off. We all had to stop him, and anyway, it wasn`t the drivers fault. We finally got to Luang Prabang at midnight, and got driven to a guesthouse in the middle of nowhere and basically had to stay there. Our room was infested with bugs... Nice.

We booked our bus to the capital Vientiane the day after as that`s the only place where you to get to anywhere else from. We`d realised that Tubing, Vietnam and Cambodia needed to be cut from the trip. We`d had enough of sitting on buses all day and wanted some fun! Time to get back to Thailand. For the rest of the day we just did the usual, food and a few drinks with Charlotte and Melissa. Nothing much to see in Laos!

Our bus left at 7am the day after for the capital, and it was supposed to take 8 hours, and actually took around 10... Result. Most hostels were full so we had to stay in a scum hole. So first thing tomorrow morning we sorted ourselves some better digs. Then thought we should go see some of the sights Laos has to offer. The only thing was a fake Arc De Triomphe called the Victory Gate. It was never finished, like pretty much everything else in Laos, but actually had pretty good views of the place. That was that, the sights were seen!

It was the last night in Laos so we went out to a few cool bars, if you do ever find yourself in Laos for some reason. Check out the Blue Banana in Vientiane, pretty cool place. Teresa was still pretty ill so went home early and left me and Vik to it. We went to a pub called Samlo, which was featured in The Lonely Planet, and predictably knowing us, turned out to be frequented by ladies of the night. We had a bit of an argument with a Swiss man who it seemed was there to find love [cough cough] and said he "Didn`t want our kind of tourism"... Brilliant given his idea of tourism. This was easily one of the funniest conversations I`ve ever had. There`s a lot more to it, but I won`t bore you with the transcript. He was sadly destroyed by our wit and shriveled off into the corner with his lady.

We`d somehow managed to attract a lady of our own at this point, and she kept on trying to get business from me and Vik, even offering to pay us! I`m no expert, but I`m sure that`s not how it works! And I don`t think her lady pimp seemed to happy at the prospect either. She was really funny though, mainly because she was so drunk! Had a really fun night in there. We then moved onto the most overt lock-in ever known and called it a night.

We`d already booked our "VIP" 13 hour bus to Bangkok for the day after. And were understandably dubious. Especially when a tuk tuk turned up to take us to the border. But when we got there, there it was, in all it`s double decked, neon lighted, gleaming glory! A huge VIP coach, with only 11 people on it! We had a whole 2 reclining leather seats to oursleves and all was well with the world. Bangkok, Thailand and having fun... Here we come