We have now finished the tours so its us girlies on our own! Hmmm 4 girls with the whole world to explore so what do we do? You guessed it got a flight from Hanoi to Vietiane in Laos & had a day at the spa pedicure, loas massage the lot!! Then went for a tasty coconut & watched the sunset by the river what a perfect day i think i make the best tour guide ever! Then went & watched a tradional Loas show where the dancer looked like an asian Edward Banford. Later i did see this dancer on the front of some dance magazine in the store so he must have been pretty good.

Laos day 2: 

Spent pretty much a whole day waiting in a hot un airconditioned travel agent for some guy to hand write out each one of of our plane tickets to Loas & when i say hand write i mean he wrote out every little seperate detail flight no, date, company name, my name!!!! It was jst one of those days that was soo bad it was funny. We decided to fly to Chang Mai because it was either that or take the 2 day slow boat (ive already experienced the ferries over here & beleave me 4hrs is plenty & theres no way i could use the toilets on those things so i dont think it wise/ healthy to do a 2 day trip!) There is a speadboat which takes 6 hrs but they do have fatal accidente every week & yuo have to where a crash helmet on them. You are also warned to avoid the buses so of cause we ended up getting the nite bus for 10hrs to Luang Prabang. Should have realised this was a bad idea soon as some midget guy was throwing our massage rucksacks (even bigga than him) on top of the bus. The bus aisles were filled with sacks of grain/something which you had to scramble ova to get to your seat yes i did hit my head on the bus roof & yes all the thai people found it absolutly hilarious! Sandras seat was broken so if she sat back she squashed the mother & child behind her so she had to do the journey bolt upright, all the lights were switched out which i thought would be to help peps sleep but then they played some cheesy pop & techno really loud when lights were off then swith lights on & turn tunes off & do this back & forth the whole journey SO RELAXING!! the door was left open so it was freezing, the driver was a maniac he was racing with vans & dodging round them with cars coming at us the other way, he was speeding round winedy cliff thin little roads, the roads are really bumpy anyways so you always fly off your seat & most of the time it was so foggy i couldnt see what was going on. Beleave me the Green bus is like a limo comparded to this bus.

Laos day 3: 

Soon as we were in Luang Prabang it was our 1st & foremost mission to find a cafe Jo Mas which we renamed Ya Momas for a good feed. We went to the palace, the palace museum, viseted some budist temples the place is swarming with monks ever really really little ones. Went to temple on hill to watch sunset & to the best nite market eva all the peps lay blankets on the floor & sit on them with there goods & theres lots of pretty lights & things its jst lovely even betta than the bullring. I had to buy a skirt from this cute old man not because i liked the skirt but when i stopped to look at his stall he put it on & did a little dance how could i resist. Went for dinner at a pretty little family restaurant by the lake we asked for vodca lemonades but they couldnt understand so we pointed to the lemonade & vodca explained what to do the guy was so funny he was like these are the first cocktails i have eva made so please tell me if there ok.

Everywhere is Luang Prabang shuts at 12 so we were being good & heading back for an early nite when we were stopped by 3 big rasta men & there swedish friend on bicycles who new The Vietnam bar which is open till 4am. So we got on the back of there bikes & headed there. Well the other girls got on the back i drew the short straw & ended up with the lazy rasta man that sat on the back & made me pedel there! Well it wasent the most plesent of bars jst some hut with a fat old lady cooking weird food in 1 corner & a fridge of beer & whisky in the other. Well at 40p a pint im not one to complain but.....

Laos day 4: 

Went on trip to waterfall bus broke down on way & we had to get out & push. Whitney got the munchies while waiting for a new bus to be sent & not content with already eating spiders on our travels started muching on a giant centipede (ill post up the pics). On our walk up the waterfall i keep getting bothered by forgien people who at first i thought were trying to tell me to get out the way of there photos but when they started hugging me realised they jst wanted us to be in them crazy? Finally reached the top of the waterfall only to realise that the view was crap!! & then a monsoon began & we had to skid down muddy slopes on our butts totally drenched. Then went back to our & 1pound 50p nite hostel. It mite not sound like it but it was actually a good day all in all & the family at the hostel were watching the artic monkeys on the tv in there living room/reception.

Day 5 Loas 

Had a nice relaxing bike ride day around Laos viseted some temples stalked some monks you know the usual. At our hostel you have to be back by 12 or they jst lock the gate. Got back 12:15 gate was locked we tried to fiddle with it then oppsy i accidently pulled the whole thing off its hindges & im jst standing there grinning like a goon holding this whole big iron gate bout 8 foot tall. 

Day 6 Laos: 

Woke for monk morning rounds at 6am

ok i have to go now ill finsh this later but this nxt story does include the line

"so we got drunk & brought a monkey" 

OK im back so its 6am & me & Whit get up to catch the monk morning rounds. (They walk from the temple through the streets & peps put rice into buckets they are carrying where this goes i have no idea but id like to think it is a gift to the poorer peps.) So theres me & Whit standing one side of the gate & this drunk guy standing the other he wants to get in & we want to get out. The only family in asia that isnt up at some ridculas hour for prayer & were staying with them. So i climbed ova this massive gate which was still abit wobberly as i pulled it off the nite b4. At the end of the road this crazy lady came running up to us flapping her her & giving us rice & leafs on plates which we had to pay $6 (rip off) then sat us on a mat on the road when the monks came we got swamped by more ladies putting us rice & leafs to give the monks i thought they were jst being nice till after they made me pay more. Its kinda the same in all countries the men are nice & friendly & the women are only nice & friendly to get your money! I was really surprised thought loads of tourists would get up for the rounds but we were the only ones it was all locals which was pretty nice. We carried on down the street to stork a few monks & came across 2 lads holding a monkey wrapped in a blanket. So i went ova to stroke the monkey & they said they had got drunk & brought the monkey for $20 off a man on the street who was mistreating it. They had took it to there room without the hostel owners saying a word it had scrathed & bitten them & torn up there room they were flying out in an hour so needed someone to care for it. We said to take it to the monks which they did. So your all be glad to know that the monkey is safe & sound aarrr!