Sabaidee from Laos!  It has been a while since our last update due to the fact that we have hardly stoppped in 4 weeks and also because for no apparent reason my updates have not been saved....you can imagine how chuffed i have been at that!!  Since leaving Oz we have been in Bangkok (Thailand), Siem Reap & PhnomPehn (Cambodia), Saigon, Hoi An, Halong Bay, Hanoi and Nhtrang (Vietnam) and Vientiene, Vang Vieng and now Luang Prabang (Laos).  Loas has come as a welcome break from the craziness of Vietnam and Cambodia.  Cambodia was a real culture shock for us and probably the most disturbing place in terms of it's very recent history and the poverty.  People living in hammocks on the streets, children begging and visual reminders of people maimed in the war are all apparent in the cities we visited, but there is a feeling of a nation trying to escape from it's past and become a developed  country.  Most surprisingly, a high perentage of children speak very good english and want to spend time talking to you in order to practice (and maybe even sell you a book or two in the mean time).  Vietnam is very full on.  There is a constan sound of beeping horns and tuk tuk engines, as well as people shouting at you to 'come and buy my shop' or 'just look for free'.  The sales techinique of the vietnamese is more aggresive than we are used with (sticking their leg between you and the door so you can't 'escape' is pretty common), and they can be quite offensive if you don't buy something (this could range from a top that doesn't fit you, to a 'nodding' horse, or a four foot buddha statue that you can't fit into your ruck sack).  Everything is for sale in Vietnam, and you will be hard pushed to think of something you can't buy there.  Food in Vietnam was delicious and the beer was so cheap we felt it would be bad manners not to drink it every night... The cheapest we drank was about 8p (quality beer obviously), and we are still alive to tell the tale so can't be that bad!