Ok before I begin I would just like to wish anyone reading this a happy new year.

I am now in Vientiane which is the capital city of Laos. After spending a week over Christmas in Hanoi I was keen to move on. Although Hanoi was without doubt a beautiful city it was also quite manic. Chrismas Day actually was not to bad in the end, I opted for a pizza overlooking the lake which was nice. I then wondered around the city getting totally lost, to the extent that I actually ended up off the scale of the map.

Anyway, on Thursday I flew from Hanoi to Vientiane. I decided to fly instead of doing the long 20 hour bus ride, so I boarded my tiny tiny aircraft which had about 10 passengers and endured an hour and a half bumpy ride. The lady next to me kept laughing at me as whenever we hit a spot of turbulance I quickly grabbed my arm rests in panic. What can I say, it was a knee jerk reaction.

Upon arriving I was able to collect my bags and clear customs in about 2 minutes and I got a taxi to my hotel. The owner who was quite possibly the rudest person I have ever met had lost my booking, so I asked him calmly whether he had a room free and he quite litterally tuted and said "yes, $5 dollar shared bathroom.. you pay now!!! Anyway, when I got to my room it was a bit of a dive and resembled something like a prison cell. However as it was cheap I did not mind and it had a nice balcony area to chill out in, so thats cool!

Anyway Vientiane is a great city which although it is not as attractive as some of the places that I have been to, it has a chilled vibe, and I have quite enjoyed spending the last few days just relaxing. As the city overlooks the Mekong River it has some amazing sunsets, and the past three evennings I have been to the sunset bar which as the name suggests is the place to watch the sunsets with a couple of Beer Laos! Which incidently is one of the nicest beers I have ever tried.

On Friday I decided to rent a bike and explore some of the attractions of the city which included a few temples and even a arch de triumph replica, which was great! On this day I had a rather ambitious lunch.. a green curry! As I thought my tastebuds were beginning to get used to spicy foods I thought, why not! Anyway, this curry was heavilly laced with chili and I ended up a great big sweaty mess after eating it! I thought green curries were supposed to be mild!!!!!!!!

Anyway, in the evenning I decided that I would check out a few bars as by then I was craving someone to talk to, so I opted for the one that looked the busiest and on that evenning I chatted to a good mix of people, which included a Japanese girl, a local girl, an Englishman, Frenchman, an American and an Australian couple. I was quite relieved, as although I am having a great time and I enjoy my own company, there are times when you just want to have a conversation with someone!

So, it is now New Years Eve and I have not yet decided what I want to do, aparently it is supposed to get quite busy down by the river, so I might do a mini bar crawl of this area! It has to be done! Tomorrow I am hoping to move onto Vang Vieng, which I am looking forward to as it is a renowned place to try tubing down the river. I have no idea what this involves but I have heard great things about it, so I am excited!!!

Anyway, I have finally figured out how to load some photos and for anyone interested I have loaded some photoes of Cambodia and Vietnam.

I better go as my stomch is rumbling rather noisily.

Take Care

Jon