Oh my days, I have so much to write

The night before the river boat, the rest of my group went to bed after we had a drink in an American Indian style teepee with a complete local nutcase. Anyway, I found a bar that was showing the FA Cup football, and met a Thai couple on holiday north from Bangkok. They were so sound, and with the barman, and his mother, (who proceeded to show me photos of the barman when he was a child) we ended up cracking open a bottle of local herbal whiskey which is brewed in the hills- and staying up way past reasonable o'clock. This stuff was knockout-so strong, but what hospitality.

The next morning after passing Thai immigration we entered Laos via speedboat across the Mekong River, and boarded the boat which would take us south into Laos. It was just the 6 of us in a 100 foot boat, manned by a Laotian (person from Laos) family with 2 delightful children. The scenery was breathtaking. The river is of a constantly browny autumnal colour due to its fast moving under currents which churn up mud and sand. I personally think its cos I saw at least 40 locals in the course of the 2 days pissing and shi**ing in it!! haha only joking, they actually use the river as a complete source of life both farming, fishing, and of course, washing. This colouration made a nice contrast to the prehistoric rock formations at the river edge, and the giant sweeping hills of junglistic forest higher up.

What really set this cruise apart though, were the stops we made. The first was at a remote villiage, just in the undergrowth of the forest away from the riverbank. There is no electricity, no phone, no light other than candle or perhaps a little bit of oil, and a language that is very much tribal opposed to national. At first I felt utterly intusive, walking in there, western as western could be, white as a sheet with paddy legs, a shiny watch and a shiny digital camera as if only to take photos at their expense. If however you start to interact with them, they can be delightful....

I wondered off at one stage from the group over towards a loud hut. One of the elderly men grabbed me by the hand and was pulling me towards the din. I thought i was for it. Opium dens and kidknappings are not beyond the imagination here. They all came to the door willing me in, so i thought f*ck it, when in Rome. They were all delighted to see me! they sat me down as they gathered round an 18th century version of an Ibizan fishbowl, sucking away at large barrells of locally brewed rice wine through straws made of bamboo, and smoking all sorts. What a scene. Through hand-gestering, smiling, and a lot of confusion, I discovered that it was the wedding of the mans daughter tomorrow in the villiage, and this was effectively the grooms stag-do!! As i left the hut, four of the men had culled a pig, and were busy taking out its stomach and intestines in preparation for the festivities the following day. wow.

Back on the boat for another few hours until we reached our overnight stay in Pak Bang, a really tiny villiage again with no phone but did have electricity. The guesthouse owner was putting emphasis on the fact that restaurants and bars closed at 10.30, and so would the guesthouse, so i had a word and asked if he could leave a side-door open for me so i could go and explore the villiage a bit. Anyway, i was at the other end of the villiage in a bar with 4 irish girls and 2 yanks, and at about 10.30pm, they brought candles to our table and turned off the lights so we could continue drinking. very romantic, a Laotian lock-in!! However, it was only when we finished at about 11.30 and we stepped outside the bar that not only had the bar lights gone off, but so had every light in the entire villiage!!! I was a 15 minute walk from my guesthouse..it was black as the pot...i was f***ed!! it turns out the entire villiage runs on one generator which they turn off every night to save power...wronguns! Armed with only the light off my watch, and an uncanny sense off direction i made it home, but not without an incident with a dog, and a traffic warden that I'm just not getting into now! haha.

What an eventful day.