Cruising along the river

...on a 2 day trip into Laos. Yup 2 7 hour days on the boat is enough to drive you insane. Hannah was right to suggest to avoid it, cause it's cramped (especially for a daddy long legs like me) and the scnery doesn't change much for 2 days.... i.e. brown river.... green hills. Still, met a couple of new friends on the boat though. Sounds really bad, but after seeing the amazing scenery in NZ, the river cruise is not that impressive. What is cool though is the architecture, the temples, the people etc.....

So we're in Lam Phra Bang (or something) in Laos now, which is very similar to Thailand, but the people are much friendlier and actually take 'no' for an answer! It's no cheaper than Thailand (in this area anyway), which we didn't expect, as the guidebooks implied it would be. Gonna check 'Pussy mountain' out today (AYE!) which has another temple on it.... then it's time for a bike hire to cycle out to the big ass waterfall (30km) which will be good, as we've done bugger all exercise since we left! ...and we have the running shoes with us too.

It's actually quite a bit cooler at the moment, which is good, as I'm sick of sweating like a 'white boy' and actually had to wear jeans and a long sleeved top for the boat trip... hardly exciting news I know! So more importantly, the local beer here is 'Beer Lao', which is only 5% and 55p a pint, which is a refreshingly lightweight change from the 6.5% 70p 'Beer Chang' which we were getting mullered on in Thailand!

Gonna be spending a few more days in Laos before we go back to Bankok to catch up with Maz and Amar for a 4 quid all you can eat Japanese Sushi/Sashimi/Teriyaki fest. Speaking of food, we're on for a 9 course feast tonight for a few quid too! It's amazing how tight (me... tight?..... surely not...) you get in these places, doing the old Del boy negotiations to save yourself 50p or so! BUT HEY, YOU HAVE TO! Otherwise these boys will be putting up the prices for the white boys even more, which we don't need. You can clearly see the difference in the price that the locals pay for things as opposed to the 'farrang' .... foreingers.

Seen a bit of footy on the telly here which is a result too! Did catch the England vs. Argentina game the other week too - 3-2 baby yeah! Was kinda weird watching it in the hotel; we booked a room with a TV that night as the bars closed at 1a.m. and it wasn't on till 3a.m.! Sure I managed to wake a few people in there when the boy wonder put his 2 headers in - altogether now... ING...GER.....LAND....!

Everywhere you go here people keep chickens, but no sign of any bird flu around at the mo. We've actually been monching away on the old poultry since we've been here with no worries (so far).... mozzie bites are more of an issue! 'Cause everyone and there dog here owns chickens, they have a rooster too. Contrary to childhood beliefs of cock-a-doodle-doing only at dawn each day, these noisy buggers go for it all day and night, in a constant challenge of male superiority with the other boys in the area.... Top tip for travellers - BUY SOME EARPLUGS!

Right, had the brekkie baguette and beer, so off to take some Japanese photo's and annoy 'tuk tuk' drivers by asking them if they'd like a 'tuk tuk' before they ask us!

Sa-wa-dee......