Well I have just arrived in the souther Lao town of Pakse after a pretty hard 36 hour journey from Luang Prabang. The overnight bus from there to Vientiene was quite uncomfortable, despite being a "VIP". we witnessed a home-made Lao film that i'm not quite sure was about. it started off with a guy digging a hole, then they all ran around hitting eachother, then some guy got lepracy or something, then the original guy from the hole got in a woman's bed and she came in with a big knife and killed him. It gets my vote for an oscar.
Then it got a little bit better. A thai movie about a boy who grew up with his dad and elephant, then when he's older some guys kill his dad and steal his elephants, so naturally he's a kung fu expert and seeks revenge. strange thing is though, the entire movie shifts to sydney and happens in a poor reproduction of what they think sydney looks like, with a few stock footage shots thrown in.
I didnt realise all people in sydney were thai.......
despite taking a few vallium, only managed about 2 hours of broken sleep. there was a guy sitting in the aisle with a machine gun under his jacket. apparently sometimes rebels like to attack buses on route 13. it must have been too wet for them that night though.
we arrived in Vientiene at 4:30 [i think] in the morning, and slept on the ground outside the guesthouse we had stayed at before, only to find when they finally opened at 7, that they were full. By then the vallium had worn off and we were awake, so they let us leave our bags there and Will and I wasted most of the day in a bookshop.
I continued my epic journey through lao that night, to Pakse, but this time I got a bus that had beds!!!!!! it was absolutley fantastic!! like one giant massage bed. although instead of a back row of seats, they have a giant bed for like 6 people.... what happens when you go around corners?
Not much to see or do in Pakse, so i'm heading south to the islands in the mekong on the border with cambodia. apparently there is not even any electricity there.
