Relaxed on the banks of the Nam Song River

Howdy y'all. Its been a while since I checked in here - been kidnapped by the beauty of Laos and it is a Beautiful country. The people here are generally very poor, very friendly and very genuine. You see the poverty every where and then you happen upon a village (of bamboo huts - always) that have massive satellite dishes hanging off a few of the huts. It's a surreal sight. I'm looking forward to seeing Vientiane, the capital, apparently it too looks like a village. It is in fact a lot of villages joined together just like Attard, Lija and Balzan :)

Today I write to you from Vang Vieng which is a little (very touristy) town 3hrs north of Vientiane. I have been traveling on and off with both Matt and Maya ever since the 12th March. Matt's the Ozzie (chiropractor) and Maya is Dutch (a student in clinical psychiatry (masters))

So as you can imagine, between the two of them I have been re-adjusted: neck and back courtesy of Matt and positively analysed by Maya. I hope she's not just being polite! :) Today, I sped off on my own. I needed a day to myself!

It was great, got up late at 9am and went to the bank to pick up another Bundle of notes. The largest bank note is in fact 50,000 Kip equivalent to a $5 note. When I first got here I was told the largest note was 20,000 Kip ($2) The 50 is a good sign, obviously tourism is having a positive effect. I tend to exchange the equivalent of my budget for three days each time to avoid being weight down by a kilo of notes, it's so funny! Makes you feel rich.

I rented another motorbike today. First in Laos. Let's just say that it was just a little sub-standard. No tread on the back wheel, an engine that sounded like it had swallowed 1000 frogs but it got me where I wanted to go. It soon becomes apparent why the thing was in such bad shape. The roads and tracks are full of potholes the size of craters! Vang Vieng is home to the pretty Nam Song river and lots of caves. The caves are amazing. They go on for kilometres and most have rivers inside.

I headed north out of town north on Highway 13 - the country's largest motorway only it looks like an A road and tarmac, well there's some. First stop was Tham Hoi. Outside of which I bumped into Maya, thought I would :) she had just exited the cave with this rather dashing young Englishman called Alex. They were happy with their guide (not allowed inside without one) and so I took him over having made plans with them to meet for lunch and after having asked whether they thought the guide would be safe alone - reassured, we trotted off. Sure enough 10 seconds into the cave I was asked if I had a boyfriend to which I answered yep I'm married and have two great kids. Not that that has any effect however it just momentarily makes you feel safe :)

Anyway much to my content we were walking along in silence. We had to duck under stalactites, crawl through tunnels and climb up to higher ground. The first climb included a free touch up. The hand was definitely placed off limits and my stern but calm reaction did the trick (I thought) You can't do anything, stamp your feet and walk back alone and get lost in the labyrinth? Or march on and be on your guard (like I wasn't in the first place) People here are very small but as strong as oxes and that includes the kids! So we walked on and the Pratt behaved himself and we left the cave without further incident.

Re-grouped and had lunch at the organic Mulberry Farm. The mulberries leaves are grown to feed the silk worms. Laotian silk is lovely. We feasted on Mulberry Leave Tempura (delicious) and Fresh Spring Rolls (one of my fav Vietnamese snacks) We tried the Mulberry wine, it was definitely a dessert wine - too sweet but adored the Mulberry smoothie. Amazing.

All in all Vang Vieng is a place I am enjoying. I have asked about traveling to Vientiane by boat and was told it costs $2 and takes 6hrs. I need to verify that that is true, that sell you anything and stories of boats kicking people off mid route due to lack of water in the river are abundant. It is dry season here which means we can trek and travel safely on the new Chinese roads but it has cut down on my preferred option of water travel. Hey you can't have it all!

(postscript- re-check the boating op and have now been told we can kayak to Vientiane. It takes 6 hours and costs $20) Umm first time round I probably heard what I wanted to hear but this kayak option sounds like just the adventure. I'll let you know if I do it. They'll be guides of course but generally it'll be a group of at least 10 Falangs too)

Take care you lot and speak again soon.

PS I'm afraid I've got 3 draft postings waiting up my sleeves before this one so one day soon you'll have to back track to get the update.