Hello again...just like London buses you wait for ages for one of my blogs and now you get two at once! It's ok you shouldn't feel privileged I'm just on a long bus journey...

As chief transport organiser it made sense in monetary and geographical terms to go to Laos next. So taking advantage of the 0% commission I earn with AirAsia, Vientiane was our next port of call.

Arriving at the airport we were aware that we could purchase a visa on arrival, so we thought we would just get cash out in the local coin and then obtain the visas as we did in Indonesia. Wrong! Turns out you need a passport photo and can only pay in US$. I guess this is perfectly logical considering the Americans previously bombed the hell out of Laos (of which there are still unexploded shells scattered over the country) and held a trading embargo against Laos for years, for them now to adopt the dollar as their most recognised foreign currency! Anyway after seeing past the hypocrisy of it we were escorted to a money convertor and paid additional fees before being granted entry.

Vientiane is the capital of Laos, but if you were just dropped here you would never consider this to be a capital city. It is very small in size and activity, and inline with Lao culture, quite laid back and slow going. One must assume this is linked to the poverty of the country, but on the plus side its not so touristic which means not being hassled so much for a taxi or massage!

Our first night we ambled along the river front. There were a few exercise classes going on and even though Sara has been missing her workouts from back home, she refused to join in. Disappointing, it would have made a great picture! We have found though that the humidity here has been the hottest we've experienced, even in the evening it's sticky and uncomfortable. I guess we are in South East after all, and just like the UK we all know the SE is hotter (particularly Virginia Water!)

Apart from visiting the odd temple (which are still ingrained/scarred in the memory from Thailand!) and Laos' version of the Arc de Triumph, there is not a lot else to note about Vientiane. This was useful for us since it gave us time to chillax and an opportunity to plan our route around Laos.

My lasting memory of Vientiane will be being awoken at ridiculous o'clock solely by the lightning of what turned out to be a horrendously big thunderstorm - would have been great to watch normally but so not cool in the middle of the night!

So there we are, a bit of a lame one but something to keep you up to speed nonetheless!

Xx