Leaving the beautiful town of Luang Prabang, we jumped a VIP bus bound for Vang Vieng. The bus was packed, including the aisles, and some men decided to rest their AK47's on the laps of those next to them..
Vang Vieng has a much younger crowd and as such is known for its party nightlife. However, curfew is still 12 o'clock for all bars and is enforced by the police.. hmmm. On the flip side, a lot of restaurant/bars show episodes of Friends all day in front of their plentiful lounges and will offer you a "Happy" menu in addition to their normal one. This menu includes a few additives the police do turn a blind eye to.
The main attraction of Vang Vieng is tubing, that is jumping in a large inner tube and floating down the river, pulling into bars along the way and using their rope swings and zip lines over the water (this is a zip line http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7OKH9vSLdc ). Sez and I were straight onto it and managed to hook up with a couple of Israeli's who ended up staying with us for more of our journey. The tubing was great fun, with the zip lines throwing you around like a rag doll and the rope swings a good 10 metres above the water - inviting courageous and stupid acrobatics.
On day two we bicycled out to the blue lagoon which had more jumps from dizzying heights into the very blue water below. One of these was a precarious tree climb only for the very brave. This did not include me until I saw a Canadian guy do it, which I took as a personal affront to my claim of being a man. Shaking all the way up there, I somehow went through with it, and was able to walk away like it was never a problem.
However 2 days later disaster struck. Hanging upside down on a rope swing (basically in response again to another guys heroics), this time it did not end well with my dismount having me fall from a reasonable height flush onto my ear which immediately perforated my ear drum and has shut up shop ever since.
I travelled to Vientiane the next day for a doctor. Giddon and Shula (the Israeli's) came with me in the back of a crowded truck - yep, this was back to real travelling. Unlike Thailand which has sold out to the animal that is tourism, and the worst kind - package tourism. Asphalt roads, big shiny busses and souvenir stalls for as far as you can go. Don't get me wrong, Thailand is definitely a favourite place of mine, but it will not leave you with any feeling of adventure or fill you with a sense of your intrepidness the way its neighbouring countries can.
Getting into Vientiane I realise I left a ring back at the guesthouse - a personal gift from a good friend. So ringing them up I get run around responses and seem to be getting nowhere with the language barrier. Luckily for me Sez was still at that same guesthouse, and after checking with the man at reception, she found that it was sitting primly on one of his own fingers!
Getting my precious goods back, I made the split decision to fly from Vientiane over to Phnom Penh in Cambodia to give myself more time there. Jumping on the smallest commercial plane I've ever seen I made it safely into the most humid place I'd ever been. Sweat drips off you at any time of day as you walk outside. I had no choice but to spend the middle of my days in a bar or reading a book - luckily I found a nice bar, even decorated inside with Australian paraphernalia I was not originally aware of.
After a few days in this bustle, heat and long nights out, I decided to head south to Kampot which was a bit cooler. The trip was a bit longer than expected due to a broken down bus and my moto running out of petrol, but eventually I turned up at a guesthouse which would prove to be my favourite, Bodhi Villa. I arrived with 3 other girls and we made plans to go to Bokor Hill Station close by.
Getting there required a 4WD, and apparently a chainsaw that we needed so as to clear the road of a fallen tree. Once at the top of this bumpy ride, the heart starts to beat a little faster. That is because the top holds a ghost town, and old decrepit grand buildings loom up - dark, empty and evil. Walking into the old grand casino you could be forgiven for thinking Jack Nicholas might stick his head around an archway exclaiming "Heeeerrree's Johnny!". You could definitely feel the ghosts of 100 years that had passed through these once grand buildings of a bygone era.
It was then that the mist rolled in, and buildings would emerge from nowhere with dark empty windows, staring, and inviting. On the way down rain started, and combined with the mist our visibility was about 10 metres, giving us a new reason to be nervous. But our driver, unfalteringly went straight into it, and knocked us around on this bumpy mudslide (to his personal soundtrack of Westlife mind you) and got us to the bottom with only minor bruising. I was meant to leave the next day, however couldn't bring myself to go, as relaxing on the river next to the bar with good food, people and music was great for the soul.
However I did get back to Phnom Penh where again I met up with Sez and also Giddon and Esther. This required a reunion night out! The resulting hangover the next day made me feel very sorry for myself - however the sobering effect of visiting the Killing Fields was immediate. At this site truckloads of Cambodians (and some foreigners) were taken to be executed and dumped in the mass graves displayed. We followed this up directly with a visit to S21 prison where the Khmer Rouge made many interrogations. From there we could walk through the cells, see the torture instruments and hear the stories that accompanied the many photos of victims. A very harrowing day as you could feel the pain and torment that had lived there and seems to continue to do so.
Putting that behind me, I have now arrived in Siem Reap and will be visiting the magnificent Angkor Wat for sunset tonight and up again for sunrise tomorrow. Will let you know how the next chapter goes!
