Well....its been a while. And thats just because the internet is so expensive and SO SO SLOW!!! (argh!)

Vientiane seems like a lifetime ago now!!

We travelled from Vang Vieng with the Dutch lads Robert and Joris on the local bus. The local buses are the best way to travel as you get to see all of the locals just going about their days (staring at us wondering why we would be on a local bus when we could pay more for a VIP which most tourists take)

In front of us were two young guys with a child each on their knees. The children just sit , not fussing or crying , waiting patiently for four hours until they get to their destination (they must be used to travelling) When i was a child i couldnt sit still for 10 minutes!! 'are we there yet?'

When we arrived in Vientiane we got on a tuktuk and the driver took us to 3or 4 different hotels (ones he knew that he would get commission at probably, as he was waiting around for us to check in)

But Robert and Joris were running low on cash and so needed somewhere cheap, & the only places we could find that were 5pounds or less were all booked up! We ended up walkng around for TWO HOURS!!!! in the dark, looking for somewhere.

Dom and I got a bit fed up and told them that we were heading back to one of the first one we saw...they followed us reluctantly...

(some places just do not have cheap accomodation available...and we're not that fussed if we have to spend 7pounds for a (decent) room (7 pounds!!!Shock horror!!)

So it wasnt a good start to Vientiane as we were tired and fed up (and hungry!)

We soon discovered that there was NOTHING at all to do in this spooky town ...except get to the bank to pick up some American Dollars for Cambodia (you need dollars for the border crossing as you have to pay to get in the country...actually,its more like bribing. They cant FORCE you to pay...but its only 2dollars and they CAN refuse to stamp your passport if they felt like it!)

Also, Cambodians local currency is Riel....but when you go to the ATMS it gives money in US Dollars!!! But if you pay in dollars you sometimes get Riel back in change! Very confusing)

Anyway, back to Laos...

We spent 2 nights in Vientiane then caught a bus at 10.30am to get to Savanakhet ......