Laos

On March 6th, in the company of two fellow travellers (Katie and Yukari), I bid farewell to the cultural abiss that is Thailand, and said hello to the laid-back ways of the people of Laos. We crossed the Mekong river, survived the zoo of tour groups that was taking over the tiny immigration desk, and entered into the small border village of Huai Xai. From there we caught the ever popular 'slow-boat' to embark on a two day jouney to Luang Prabang. After two days being crammed on a boat with people, bags of rice, grass and anything else that would fit, a night in the sleepy village of Pak Beng, and almost capsizing the boat, we finally made it to the cultural capital of Loas. Richly influenced by the French, the mix of markets and baguettes was quite interesting! After two days Katie wasn't yet ready to move on, but being short on time Yukari and I continued on as a twoesome via a night bus to Vientiane. Here we tried to learn a bit more about Laos' unspoken history by taking on the National Museum as well as the very informative COPE Center, which works to provide support and spead awareness of the victims of the unexploded bombies left behind after the War of Vietnam.
From Vientiane we carried on by bus to Tha Khek, where we found a tuk-tuk driver to take us around to three of the many unique and breath-taking caves in the area. We didn't hang around for long however, as we were off again to the hammock loungers paradise of Si Phan Don - better known as the Four Thousand Islands. No more than a day to rest though as Yuki and I parted ways, her off to Cambodia, and I back on a bus and up through Paske to the border of Vietnam!