Originally written on October 25, 2004

The bus ride to Vientiane was uneventful, and a little longer than the ride to Vang Viang some 8? days earlier. In Vientiane, we stumbled upon a great buffet in a nice resturant for lunch. All you can eat Lao and sushi food, with chocolate milk too. The place was rammed, so we knew it was the right thing to do. After lunch we went to the Lao History museum.

The museum started out as a history of the ethnicity of the peoples, some dinosaur talk, geology and other typical museum stuff. Then it quickly turned into Communist propaganda and with displays on the workers, Lenin, and various ‘famous’ lao revolutionaries and the fight against the evil forces of the west and the ‘american puppets’ (boo capitalism). When we came out I didn’t know if I should call the guards ‘comrade’ or not. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 24, 2004

We got up early and got in the Tuk tuk to take us to the bus station. The bus ride itself was much less eventful (no babies or pooping, snakes). Heather slept and I listened to “Against all enemies” by Richard A. Clarke. Amazon blurb: From the first thrilling chapter, which takes readers into the White House center of operations on September 11, through his final negative assessment of George W. Bush�s post-9/11 war on terror, Clarke, the U.S.�s former terrorism czar, offers a complex and illuminating look into the successes and failures of the nation�s security apparatus. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 23, 2004

Today we visited several Wat’s, enjoyed many fruit shakes, and made some purchases at the market. Too late to really get into it what with this being our last day, we sadly found out that fruit shakes are cheap and damn tasty. For about 30 - 80 cents CDN depending on the type of establishment (fancy/ not fancy) you can order one of 5 - 20 different fruit shake concoctions. Made of crushed ice and fruit juice they are really tasty on a hot day. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 22, 2004

Today we decided to run some errands in town in the morning, and visit some of the many wats (Buddhist temples) in the afternoon. Errands, it turns out takes a long time in sleepy Luang Prabang. There are at least three banks, which we found along the main street. Each have different hours of operation, some cash US traveller�’s cheques (usually only to Kip (Lao currency), while others will only exchange US currency for Kip. We had seen many lovely items in the evening market and wanted to make sure we had enough money to make some purchases, and still be able to leave the country. I.e. have enough money also for food, bus rides, tuk-tuk rides etc. We had less than 110 000 Kip (11 US), hence the need to change traveller�’s cheques.

After walking up and down the main street a couple times, checking with each bank, we found out that the best method it turned out was to exchange our traveller�’s cheque at the travel agency where we were booking our flight to Hanoi. They were able to give us US dollars (less 3.5% commission of course-same as the bank) and all we had to do was go back to a bank and convert some of the US dollars to Kip (better bang for your dollar). This proved to be a more difficult task�. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 21, 2004

Today we went on a boat tour up the Mekong River with a british couple Katie and Nick. The boat is owned by the guesthouse family and our guide is Tien our guesthouse manager, and the driver one of Tien�s brother in law�s. For $4.00 US per person we are going on a half day journey.

We stopped first at the paper handicraft village, where locals make paper out of mulberry tree pulp. These are the same trees that the silk worm feeds on. The pulp is soaked in water for a day, pounded out and then soaked some more to break down the fibres. The fine fibres then settle to the bottom, where there is a wire screen mesh and the mesh is placed outside to dry. Dried flowers (petals) and leaves are added to the paper before it is dry. They make books and various lanterns out of the paper, very beautiful. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 20th, 2004

The mouldy smell in Dokoun 2 finally got to us making us both sick? with at least the sniffles, so we were glad to get out of there. In the morning, we caught the bus on the old runway to Luang Prabang. Wheras the first bus ride was short, cool, and bumpy this ride turned out to be very twisty, sweaty, and a little smoother. The road to Luang Prabang is basically a series of switchbacks up on over successive ranges of mountains. Because these mountains are very steep all the way to the valley floor (which was the width of the river at the bottom usually no more) the road was always built into the edge of the mountain. One side of the bus had a solid green view of vegetation moving swiftly by, the other side had a steep cliff panorama view of the country side. These views alternated depending on whether we were going up or down a mountain. Regardless, the whole trip was either up or down, never really straight and flat for more than 30 seconds (and usually at break neck speed as the driver seemed to have a death wish). » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 19, 2004

Breakfast, of course, is a French baguette from the airport strip/bus stop street vendor and some water. The market does not always sell baguettes, often packaged bread with weird dried plant material inside and typically not fresh. We bought oranges once from the market, they were delicious. I would like to try more fruit, but this involves purchasing a decent knife, which we cannot take as carryon on our flight from Vientiane, Laos to Hanoi, Vietnam. So, we will eat fruit we can peel until then. Bananas of course are not one of them. It�s too bad that banana�s make me gag because they are plentiful. I tried papaya at our guesthouse in Bangkok and thought it tasted like coffee. Apples are also plentiful here and I look forward to having some!

Alas� Today we went on an inner tube down the Nam Song River. For US each we rode a tuk tuk upstream from the town with another couple. We were dropped off at a dirt road where they are building the library, currently only two to three rows of clay bricks thus far, and we were there! Luckily, the other woman traveler knew where the river was and we walked maybe 200 metres down the road. The river was flowing quickly where we were to embark on our journey so we held hands to ensure we stayed together. Agriculture was prominent on one side of the river, and treed mountains the other. » Read the rest of the entry..

Originally written on October 18th, 2004

Today Heather wasn’t feeling so good, so we decided to take it easy. She slept most of the day while I read, “From here to eternity” by James Joyce. On our third floor balcony, I can look out over the corragated metal and tile roofs to the steep walled jungled mountains. There is a nice breeze which takes away the heat of the day effectively. A few brief trips outdoors to exchange baht for kip, and buy water is all we have done so far. Dinner is to be eaten overlooking the Dam Nam Song(?) river at the Sunset Restaraunt. Then perhaps to a bar where we can lounge and watch a movie before bed. Tomorrow, some kind of adventure… tubing and caving most likely. » Read the rest of the entry..