I arrived in Laos early in the morning after a very early wake up call from the taxi at 05:30 to take me to the airport. I wasn't flying until 08:30, so I ended up getting to the airport far too early, so much so the checking desks were not even open. Fortunately, this gave me some time to grab breakfast as I suspected it would be along day ahead. Arriving in a country with absolutely no currency would have scared the living daylights out of me several months ago, however it's par for the course these days. I wandered around the airport, trying to get my bearings and find where I could get some money from, otherwise I wasn't going anywhere. I managed to change up $80 into Kip (local currency), which they gave me in all 5,000 Kip notes. It doesn't sound like I had very much, but it looked like I had just robbed a bank, holding the amount of money I had in my hand. Put it this way, it barely fit in my bag, let alone my wallet! There are approximately 20,000 Kip to the GB Pound if that gives you some idea. Why they have to have so many 0's at the end of their currency I will never know, but this is the second country I have been a millionaire, so I'm not complaining too much! I met a couple from Manchester at Vientiane airport, who were lovely and we shared a cab into town. The Orchid Hotel was only about 5 or 10 minutes from the airport, so there wasn't really much of Laos to take in en route. I instantly took to Vientiane, especially coming straight from Hanoi. Vientiane is like a sleepy town, with a lazy river (Mekong) running through it and lots of little market stalls and cafes along the front. My hotel was also on the river front which made everything easy in terms of navigation. Once I had explored some of the area, I went for a much deserved pint of Beerlao (local brew which is a very pleasant beer actually), at 25 pence per pint it's a bit hard to refuse sometimes. While deciding what tasty little morsels would go well with the beer, I looked up to see two very familiar faces crossing the road waving. It was Rob and Carla! I knew they would be in the area as the 'red dots' on our maps were getting closer, but nothing really prepares you for seeing people from back home, while you're in some far flung destination. To celebrate, we had a few more Beerlao before going back to the hotel to change for dinner. Dinner was a hoot as a few more people joined us and we all drank and had some good food. The waitreses were giving out prizes. After two goes on the game, I won a "lovely" emerald green jacket, which some American woman on the next table saw me modelling and wanted it for herself. I "reluctantly" swapped it for her umbrella - a useful item in this climate! The following day, we explored the temples of That Luang and then off to the swimming pool to top up the old tan. Later that evening, we all went to a lovely French restaurant by the fountain, which was far more expensive than everywhere else. I got to order some wine and a 3 course meal (all fantastic quality) and the whole lot only came to $20 each (about 12 GB Pound). That is really expensive for Laos though and your view on money really changes when your in a country like this. I hope I don't return home a stingy old miser! I was starting to get a bit worried by this stage as had attempted to get some more money out in town, but to no avail, so I headed off to the bank again the following day to try again. Their machine was still broken. I tried the next place - machine broken. Several other places didn't take Visa so my hopes were dashed. The reason I needed more money was because the rest of the places I was going were a lots smaller than Vientiane and unlikely to be able to provide me with cash over the counter. There are no ATM's and I don't carry travellers cheques (contingency Dollars would be a good idea here!) Hopes dashed it was off to Vang Vieng via minibus and to say goodbye to Rob and Carla. From this point on I was on a strict budget, otherwise, if I couldn't get any more money out, I would probably have to leave Laos early. Fortunately it is very possible to exist for a long time here with very little money - many do. Until Vang Vieng then... Stephen xxx