Have you ever had the desire to visit Lao? If you have your like me, if you have not, here's why you should! :)

My group is now, after leaving Vietnam down to 4. Travelling by bus through the ever winding, climbing mountain roads, it took us one day to cross the border and make our way to the closest little town in Lao where we spent the first night. Instantly we could tell the difference between the two countries. Lao is much quieter, less provocative in the sence that you dont get people pulling at your arm trying to sell you junk every 10 steps. It was surreal at the time to be walking along the main road and not hear the sound of 50 car horns at once. People say that Lao is something along the lines of what Thailand was like 100 years ago. Chill!

Thursday, Dec 16th: Early wake up call at 6.45 to hopp on our private mini-bus and drive the remaining 5 hours to get to the Lao capital, Vientiane. Known for being (according to our guide) as probably the most relaxed and quiet capital city in the world! Myself, Gavin and Danski rented a Tuk-tuk and did the only thing we felt was worth doing around the city and that was to visit the Xieng Khuan (Buddah Park). This turned out to be excellent, an area in the middle of nowheresville, I got to see the biggest collection of buddhist statues Ive ever seen. Monsterously huge and hundreds of years old, this was truly a sight to behold. I also got to climb a tall old relic thing that was a bit of a rush! The picture in the corner in this blog is from there:) After that we went to a boring old temple and had an Indian for dinner (eating curry with your hands is the bomb! and I dont think ill be able to go back to a knife and fork :p)

Next morning I do believe we had another bloody early morning with another 5+ hours on the bus to go to my fav spot in Lao, Vang Vieng. This peaceful riverside village, is home to the only real western style atmosphere in Lao, with looping Friends episodes running all over town in cafe's and bars, as well as lots of western staff and tourists. Our hotel was located on the main-street of the town and we quickly learned to scale and pace. Did a quick orientation walk and sat down in a bar under a 3L beer tower untill dinner. Went out and possibly had one-too-many..............nah^_^.

Tubing Day!: Today, for our one full day in Vang Vieng we did the no. 1 activity to do, namely tubing down the lazy river. Manned ourself with rented tubes from the village and got a tuk-tuk to drop us off near on the river side, got decked out with arm bands and a beer and spent the next 4 hours dropping in the from huge swings and floating down the river between the mountains. Almost as good as Halong Bay, but it'll have to come in at a close no.2 highlight:)

Sunday Dec. 19th: Had a really really amazing drive today. Sat infront next to the driver and stared out the window for 6 hours, listening to my Ipod, watching the scenery. The most winding roads Ive ever driven, and for the full 6 hours we had at the most a stretch of 200m with straight road. Imagine that. Arrived in Luang Prabang in northern Lao and spent the evening getting aquainted with this new city. Roamed the night market and ate delicious street food. Second day in L.P. was another of my favourite days on the tour. We journey'd for an hour by tuk-tuk to get to a place called Kuangsi Waterfall Park. Anything that poses some physical activity and/or challenge is right up my alley. Got some great photo's infront of a huge waterfall which we after that enjoyed a rather challenging hike up to the top of. (Im really missing my workouts these days!) At the bottom of the waterfall there were designated swimming areas for all of us crazy people who enjoy swimming in freezing mountain water. Nothing like the beaches in these South East Asian countries, this mountain water was fresh, clean and indeed very cold. I loved it. Best part by far was the rope swing someone had cleverly tied to a tree. I must have gone off this thing at least 15 times! Saw some bears on the way out and tuk-tuk'd back into town. Had some more great street food and did a little shopping in the market. Visited one final temple in Lao, didnt get any photos from this one actually because I was so taken aback by the stunning veiw over this city in perfect timing with the sun-set. Absolutely gorgeous. Rounded off the evening with a game of darts and a round of Jumbo-Jenga :)

"Im on a boat!" Tuesday Dec. 19th. Left Luang Prabang thismorning and we are officially on our way back towards Thailand. We spent the next two days not traveling by bus (thankyou jesus) but by slow-boat down the Mekong river. It was absolutely one of those "wish you could be here" moments. For hours and hours we slowly made our way inbetween the borders of Lao & Thailand, reading my book, playing cards with the boys and sitting on the front of the boat with my feet dangling over the edge with not a care in the world. The peace of mind a journey like this can install in you is simply unimaginable. Stopped at a little local village for our last Lao meal and night at a hotel. Next moring was the first day on tour I actually didnt take a single photo. Very same same as the day before with most of our time spent relaxing on the boat. Incredible journey from start to finish. After crossing the border in the evening and getting back in to Thailand, we were in luck as in the border town that night they we're holding a grand food-festival. Not quite the scale of Gladmat, but a worthy Thai contender! I had at least 4 different dishes and we were treated to an excellent show of bands, dancers, fireworks, lanterns being released into the air and the like. Happy to be back:)

We spent our last full day on tour with our guide driving 5 hours to Chiang Mai where we boarded our final overnight train which would take us in to Bangkok. Had a blast on the train actually as we discovered a group of Crazy french people having a party in the restaurant cart dancing with the Thai staff and drinking. Hillarious. Woke up next morning rolling into to Bangkok station, walked the 10minutes over to the Bangkok Centre Hotel where it all began. We had come full circle. I enjoyed my first ever swim in an outdoor pool on this Christmas Eve, and later we said goodbye to our Indian guide who was flying home to see his family. He certainly had his moments and Ive been very happy with all three of my Gap Tour Leaders:)

So that was Lao people, the most stunning country Ive been to in terms of nature on my trip. The tour itsell was very cool as Ive now most certainly made a great group of friends from all over the world. Im still with Gavin now as we are the only two left standing and will be making our way through the Thai Islands after Christmas. Ive decided to do a blog in Norwegian actually after this seeing as its been requested and indeed I too think its a good idea. So untill next time, God Jul og Godt Nyttaar!!

Mattis "Kartoffel-Carl" - "Wrong Boy" - "Handsome Man" Vigsoe