February 16th:
When we woke up we headed two doors down from our guesthouse to a mexican inspired cafe for breakfast. They didn't have much for choice on the breakfast menu so we both ordered an omelette, bacon and bread. After the order was finally taken and our coffees finally came to the table we were starving. When our breakfast arrived, the eggs were fried rather than in the form of an omelette, which didn't bother me too much whereas Dan never eats fried eggs so was a bit pissed off, especially after we both clearly asked the young lady boy waiter for an omelette. We paid the expensive-for-what-it-was bill and began walking to the victory arch modelled by the Arc de triumph in paris. It's a lot hotter than it was yesterday so the walk got a bit sweaty and tiring but was worth it when we arrived.

The arch stood at the foot of a dual carriageway and looked grand and old. When we approached it, there were tourists left, right and centre, most of them being from oriental descent. We paid 3,000kip each to be able to walk to the very top of the arch. As we made our way up the stairway at the different levels there were lots of stalls selling souvenirs such as jewellery, ornaments of buddha and elephants. They grab any money making opportunity possible it seems. We had a wander around some of the stalls and proceeded up the steps where there were again, more stalls. We finally made it to the top and the view was nothing compared to that of the Rockefeller building in new york but it was still pretty cool.

The top of the Arch provided an almost birds eye view of the big fountain next to the arch as well as a good view of the surrounding area. Once taking in the view and getting some good photos on Dan's camera (as mine was still in the bag of rice) we went back down the stairs and towards the fountain. There were lots of natives with big cameras taking professional looking photos of tourists and printing out the copies from the back of their van. It was so hot, i had to resist jumping into the fountain fully clothed.

We then began walking to "That Luang Stupa" which is a gold temple type thing which daniel described as "Laos's big ben). It was more than a 200m walk from the arch like the book said and took us a good 20 minutes to get there. On arrival we noticed the doors were shut. Daniel walked over to the sign to investigate and it had closed from 12:00-13:00 so we only had 10 minutes to wait until we could go inside. There was a temple just next to it so i sat down on the side of a garden to read some more of my book while dan went to check the temple out. I didn't go as i was wearing shorts and didn't bring a sarong with me, plus i was pretty determined to finish my book so i could exchange it.

By the time Daniel returned, the doors were open to "That Luang Stupa" so we walked to the entrance. It was 5,000kip entry fee, i didn't think it was a temple of any sorts until the woman at the entrance gestured me to a pile of sarongs in a straw basket, so, i chose the prettiest maroon coloured one to wrap around my legs. The sight wasn't any spectacular, i've been in restaurants more breathtaking than this but it was a good little trip. There were buddhists walking around the gold painted centre with incense and flowers clasped between both hands praying. We left shortly afterwards and headed back into town. We were going to get a tuktuk but didn't know the name of our guesthouse so decided to just save money, burn calories and walk.

Whilst walking i was reading my book, looking down every so often to make sure i wouldn't fall off the curb or into some sort of ditch. We eventually ended up at a different book shop. I stood outside for 2 minutes whilst i read the last pages of my book and then joined Dan inside. I was greeted by a cool gust of air con, which felt amazinggggg. After looking around i noticed all the books were brand new and that you probably couldn't make any exchanges. Because of this, we stepped back out into the heavy heat of the atmosphere and continued down to find the bookshop that we saw the day before.

To our surprise, i was the one who directed us onto the right road and when we walked into the bookshop i was ecstatic to see that "Bared to You" was still sat on the shelf. Delighted, i exchanged my book "The Rules of Civility" and paid 20,000 on top for the new book. Daniel opted for another book by Tom Clancy. Happy with our purchases we went to the cafe next door for a smoothie and a smoke. Feeling replenished we took a stroll back to our guesthouse where we showered and smoked before leaving to find a place to eat dinner.

After trawling the streets surrounding our guesthouse, we found a restaurant selling mainly thai/lao food. There were two young boys working, both gay, one was a lady boy. They couldn't speak much english at all but it was the best service we've had in laos so far. I ordered chicken pad thai and Daniel opted for green chicken curry and rice. On a whim we decided to add spring rolls to our order. When the waiter brought over my water he politely opened the top, smiled and backed away, bless him. The food arrived shortly afterwards, my pad thai was delicious and when the spring rolls came, it was a main in itself. The spring rolls were cut into pieces and served with large lettuce leave, cold noodles, parsley and a sweet chilli sauce. I decided to wrap a bit of spring roll in the lettuce leaf with some noodles, parsley and sauce. They were delicious, if not slightly messy. After we paid the bill, we visited an indian man's stall outside an indian restaurant where we both got a roti each; i got chocolate and condensed milk and dan got banana, chocolate and milk, even though he hadn't asked for it. We walked back to the guesthouse and had a bedtime smoke before starting our new books.