Explore.Dream.Discover 2012

Laos 11th April

LAOS | Tuesday, 17 April 2012 | Views [572]

This is our 6th day in laos. We arrived tired and disorientated after 3 flights in 36hours, which included a quick visit to mumbai (bombay) airport where we were welcomed by an unbelievable amount of mosquitoes and some almost recognisable KFC and then onto Bangkok airport to catch our flight to Vientaine, Laos. We stayed one night in Vientaine before heading off to Vang Vien for some rock climbing and other outdoor sports. We boarded our bus and were disturbed to hear the sounds of drunk larger louts who thought they were so cool. "I'm a bad boy innit" said one of them the whole time. Idiot more like!! They were the most embarrasing Brits you could imagine. Their foul language was appalling and in 5 hours nothing intellectual came out of any of their mouths. We were finding ourselves explaining to our fellow passengers (french and oriental) that not all Brits are like them. We arrived in Vang Vien an excruciating 2.5hours later than expected and were slightly dissapointed by what we saw when we arrived. Bar after bar full of tourists (many drunk), bouncy castles and neon lights. Oh dear... Welcome to Brighton. We found a guesthouse away from the busy nightlife and booked ourselves in the next day for outdoor activities, deciding against jumping on a bus straight out of there. Luckily we did stay, as the caves we saw and the rafting was great fun and away from the larger louts. Our journey to the caves was so much fun. We were attacked with water and paints for the Laos New Year celebrations and the locals were out on full force. Hose pipes, water guns, saucepans and buckets were aimed at us as we passed them on our vehicle. After about our 20th water encounter we all decided to really fight back. On the next attack 8 of us jumped out of our pick up truck and attacked the locals with their own weapons. They didn't see it coming and were unprepared for such a turn of events. Oresti sprayed them with THEIR hosepipe aiming right in their eyes (how evil) and i used their fish pond to fill my bottles as well as turn their buckets on them when they tried to get me. We fought like Spartan soldiers and left victorious.On to the kayaking, our route took us through the tubing area which is basically where you sit on an inner tube of a truck tyre and slowly move through the river. Along the way you can stop at many bars to have alcohol and drugs... Basically a bar crawl. The barman aims for your head when he throws you an empty water bottle attached to a thin rope and pulls you in. We saw many people who were so drunk early in the afternoon. Unsurprisingly,there are upto 20 deaths a year due to people being too drunk when they are in the water. Needless to say, we didn't take part in this popular activity.There was one thing that I wanted us to do that was very touristy... Recline in the seats of one of the restaurants that show Friends repeats with a cup of tea. That was definitely fun!! I love Ross!!The next day we got on a bus and headed to Laung Prabang as we had heard that it was the best place to celebrate the Laos New Year and was also a very beautiful place. The moment we arrived at the bus station and got on our tuktuk we were greeted by more water!! They got us real good!! Walking with our backpacks to find accommodation was extremely difficult especially as we were getting soaked with water every few seconds. The moment you catch your breath, another bucket of water goes in your mouth!!After dropping off our bags we hit the road on foot for some revenge. We took peoples hoses and aimed them at them, as well as joining in with different groups and getting passers by. It was definitely great to be getting wet in such a hot climate. The next day was the parade, again lots of water was involved and we saw hundreds of locals dressed up in traditional clothing and costumes. The following day we hired some bikes and explored some local villages. I flew off of my bike as the brakes were the wrong way round on my bike, dejavu from our honeymoon in Thailand. I escaped with only a few scratches and bruises. Oresti climbed a small hill overlooking the city to watch sunset. I didn't bother, my wounds from the accident were a good excuse to miss it out!We then boarded an overnight bus and travelled 18 hours into Tha Khaek, Central Laos. At the end of the journey i had swollen feet from not moving for ages, but ofcourse, i didn't complain. Sent from my iPhone

Tags: city