Has been a while since I last updated - have been enjoying Laos so much, a really amazing place. Someone was telling me that only five years ago you could only get 1 week visas for Laos - that sort of makes sense when compared to the other countries around it - Laos appears to be in the relatively early days of tourism. Therefore, at the moment, when you're sightseeing there are only usually a few others around and its all very low-key, people are friendly, don't give you the 'hard sell' like in vietnam for example and the scenery is amazing. 

I travelled from Vang Viang where I went 'tubing' down a river (you sit in a tractor tyre inner tube and float along). It was a lovely place, also visited a cave and a lagoon. If only one complaint - the town itself was very touristy, still pretty relaxing.  

I then went to Phonsovan to see the 'plain of jars.' There are all these jars (like urns really) over two thousand years old just lying around in fields. The theory is that they were funeral pots as lots of human bones were found around the sites too. I was also interested to see the amount of bomb craters in this part of the world. Apparently Laos was bombed constantly during the vietnam war by the US in their attempts to stop the enemy from travelling into and out of vietnam. There are still hundreds of unexploded bombs around apparently and although they're trying to clear them its going to take years. The guide showed us tennis ball sized bombs literally yards from our feet - he said that there was a fifty-fifty chance of it exploding if I went and kicked it! Some of the craters are huge, i took some photos.

Not much else in Phonsovan so took the bus on to Loung Phanbang where I am at the moment. A pretty spectacular journey through the mountains to get here - its a really arty place probably in keeping with the french colonial architecture (basically lots of wooden shutters and wooden floored buildings) - most of the buildings have been well maintained too. The contrast from the countryside is incredible, from pigs, goats and bamboo shacks to cappucinos, art galleries and expensive restaurants...still its a really lovely place to stay for a few days.

Went to a waterfall today which was incredible (something that good in another country would be a huge tourist attraction). Got to swim in this brilliant blue water at the bottom.  

Going to hang around tomorrow and see a bit more of the town, probably off on a boat ride up to a place called Nang Khiaw day after, supposed to be a really beautiful journey. 

Have made a list of other recent highlights: -

1 Got 'leeched' in Phonsovan on a walk to a waterfall - pretty hard pulling the b***** off too - still I like to think I was a man about it even with the blood. I was going to ask if the guide would pee on my leg but I think thats jellyfish....

2 the hugest beetle I have ever seen in my toilet in Phonsovan - you could have stuck a sign on it and used it as a roundabout....

3 the noise from my bamboo bungalow in Phonsovan. It backed onto a farmyard, never before have I heard so much noise from such small animals. The chickens never stop (I thought they only cock-a-doodle-do'd at dawn?) The geese sounded like pigs being strangled, the pigs sounded like they were being strangled by geese and thats before you got to the dogs. The countryside, isn't it just great?

4 the 'local' bus to Loung Phabang. Break neck speeds around mountain bends in a coach last used to take pensioners to margate in 1972. Broke down twice - alarmed to see the driver using glue to repair an engine part. No public toilets in Laos either so the bus stops and everyone runs into the bushes, including the women, who just go a bit further in.

5 Guesthouses use of a 'big towel' as a blanket - so what am I going to use for a towel then, the curtains? Oh no, there aren't any....

6 noodle soup for breakfast, fantastic - going to follow a recipe to make it when I get home.

7 Beer-Lao - great beer, huge bottles, very cheap. Saw a sign in Vang Viang which said welcome to beer-lao as if it was a state of mind of something. Come to think of it, it could well be if you drank enough of it. Everything here has the beer-lao logo on it, I thought it was one of the only true Laos made/owned thing (nearly everything is imported apparently) I wasn't surprised to find that they're owned by carlsberg....