We arrived in the capitol of Laos knackered, gobsmacked, thankful, grateful and completely bemused at the scam bus ride from hell, the sheer lies of about 10 different tour agencies and the rudeness of the Vietnamese people.

Loads a kip

There was no way I was staying in a flee pit with a shared bathroom that night. Not that we'd been doing a lot of that recently getting lazier and lazier and more in need of the finer things the more time goes on. And there was no way I was getting up the next day either...although someone had mentioned real croissants with real cheese.

A stark contrast to Vietnam we were greeted with smiles and genuine happiness, not fake hello's and sneers behind our backs. The Laos people seemed great on first impression, definately making us feel welcome in their country. Had we been suffering from the Thailand tourist syndrome in Vietnam? Laos might be the road less travelled and if so this would prove our theory that overexposure to backpackers turns locals into nasties. If this country is just as heaving with foreigners then its a credit to Laos people they can remain genuine and warm. Mind you, there wasn't that many people around to be able to form a fair opinion!

Where are all the people?

Vientiane is the quietest most serene capitol city we’ve ever been to. There is no traffic on the streets and the few people who are around tend to be keeping themselves to themselves picnicking near the Mekong. Not any more.......our bus load managed to party together most nights, getting familiar with the infamous beer lao, starting with proper Indian curries, moving on to the beer gardens and finishing at the only bar open after 11, the bowling alley. It felt like being back at home. The guest houses had curfews so we had to sneak in most nights or blatantly wake the owners up. It wasn’t as if we were popular because of these nightly interruptions but when the early morning fight with a local lady boy resulted in a bruiser of a black eye for me they became even more wary. (She was beating a little boy with disabilities and we stepped in)

Pha That Luang temple

The vertical runway

We did take in a few sights, the golden Pha That Luang temple (in the rain) and the vertical runway (or the Patuxi). The former was certainly golden and very special to the Buddhists. The latter is a pale comparison of the Arc de Triomph built with money donated to Laos by the the US for the purpose of building a new airport. That never happened which I think is hilarious. We had a great herbal sauna in a local Wat (Mum and Jeni, it was the same as the shed in the Philippines) and what would have been an awesome massage afterwards if only my muscles weren’t bruised from the lady who took her whole lifes problems out my back the day before. To be honest we used Vientiane for its chilledoutness, ate and drank well and savoured the time our hangovers allowed us to relax in bed. I even managed to fit in a little shopping. Our house really is going to look like a jumble sale, when we actually do make it home and manage to settle into real life enough to buy one that is.

Great mates unified through adveristy, drunk through Beer Lao

And it gets worse (sorry Leanne but you did win bowling twice)

After a few sunsets on the Mekong, some very small strolls and some great bakeries, 5 short days and 4 long nights later we finally felt well enough to head to the annaul water festival...SONKAN.