When I arrived in Vientiane (the capital of Laos) almost all the guesthouses I tried had no single rooms, so I ended up having to take a double. Went out for dinner and had a nice and cheao curry. 2 pounds bought me my curry with rice and naan, a beer and an ice cream - I'm gonna miss Asia! I watched people doing their aerobics to really loud music for a while, walked along the riverside where there's lots of places to sit and eat or drink and then SAW A 306! That was enough to send me to sleep pretty early...

The next morning I woke up early and walked to 'Patuxai' - a building/structure similar in shape and size to the Arc De Triomphe in Paris. After that I walked to a market to look for a replacement mobile phone but didn't buy anything and caught a bus to 'Xieng Khoung' - a buddha park. I met an Ozzie guy on the bus who I walked round the park with, then we had some soup, visited a couple of temples and had some beer by the river. It was soon time for dinner where I ended up talking to a German guy for a while and then we went to a bar nearby. We were talking to some Laos girls who we weren't sure if they were ladyboys or not so I remembered something a friend had recently said to me; "If you're not sure, you're sure!" So we left after a while and I went to sleep; there wasn't so much to do in Vientiane. That's why I left the next day, after renting a bicycle and cycling to 'Pha That Luang' - the most important temple in Laos.

On the bus on the way to Vang Vieng - 4 hours north of Vientiane - I met a French Canadian and 3 Israeli guys; Ido, Ziv and UV. When we arrived in Vang Vieng we got dropped at a guesthouse place with little shacks and it was quite nice so we all decided to stay and I shared a room with the Canadian. We walked into town for dinner and to see what was going on there, and discovered as we had been warned by guidebooks and other travellers how sad it is in the centre. The reason being that everyone goes to one of three places where they have 'Friends' DVD's playing non-stop and sits there staring blankly at the screen all night. So we went to a bar round the corner where we could play some pool, talk and meet some people, including one guy who was overly-keen at wanting to win every pool game! Then we went to a local club which was practically empty before going home.

The next day we went tubing down the river, something that everyone who goes to Vang Vieng does (it's the main reason for going there in fact) and something that is now described as being an essential stop for travellers in S-E Asia. And when you do it you find out why - such a fun afternoon and something that I doubt you can do anywhere else in the world. You get taken a few km upstream and dropped on a dirt track, left alone to walk down to the river. A bit unsure about what you're doing whilst looking at the fast-flowing currents you sit in your tube and suddenly you're being carried downstream! After just a few minutes you see the first place possible to stop where there was a zip-wire from up in a tree going down into the river. So we stopped and went on it a few times, then back in the tubes. Then the current starts to take different directions so if you get in the wrong flow you end up in bushes or headed toward rocks but I managed to avoid any problems! All the way down the river there's places to stop and have a beer, and about half way is the main stop-off point where everyone stops - theres a bar with food and drink, a volleyball court, lots of places to sit and the most amazing rope swing from really high up in a tree! You start your swing from about 10m above the water and swing out so far and fast, such an adrenaline rush and cool to do backflips at the end! We stayed here for quite a while and stopped in one more bar before we had to go back before it got dark. We went to the same bar as the night before in the evening and then found an after hours bar on an island where everyone goes, stayed there until late playing guitar, singing and drinking.

For our last day in Vang Vieng we rented two motorbikes between the four of us (just me and the Israeli's by now) and went on a mission through some mountains and countryside to see a cave. The scenery on the way was really beautiful and we had to cross a couple of dodgy wooden bridges on the bikes but it was exciting! Got to the cave which was quite a walk up the hillside and really nothing to write home about, but at the bottom was a lagoon with a couple of ropeswings and a tree to jump from which was really nice. Same bars that evening and didn't get home until 5 or 6 then had to wake up at 8 for the bus which we (kind of) slept on on our way to Luang Prabang, 6 hours North. It's driving through mountains all the way and at speeds that are clearly too fast for the road and bus conditions (you would wet yourself mum). So when you get a flat tyre going round a sharp corner at about 60kmph you feel lucky not to have skidden off the side of the road into certain death!

We arrived with a bit of a delay due to the tyre-changing and after finding a hotel I went out for a walk on my own. I went to the market there which was so unlike any other market I've ever been to in Asia. The walkways are really wide, there's hardly any people, the locals selling things don't bother you at all and most of them are selling lights or lanterns so the whole street is glowing and peaceful, it was really nice to walk up and down. I then had a pizza and met up with the others (now the 3 Israeli's and 2 Swiss girls) so that we could all go to a bar together. We went to a place called The Hive which was supposedly where all the travellers hang out, we just stayed for one drink after discovering we were the only people there. After that we went to a local disco we had heard about which turned out to be really fun. When we arrived there was a band playing, mostly English songs at which point we were the only people on the dancefloor. But then they played two Laos songs and all the people went crazy and started dancing. But not any old dancing, they had a routine which seemed kind of similar to the Macarena. It was quite funny to watch, they just step backwards and forwards and twist their legs, but they all knew it so we tried to pick it up too! Then a DJ came on and when he played one song - 'Khwap jai lai lai' meaning 'Thank you very much' all the Laos people went crazy again. It's a cover of a song by a Thai guy called 'Ice' and we already knew it so we able to sing the chorus!

The next day we got a tuk-tuk to take us to a waterfall. It was really beautiful , there were different levels to it, the lower ones you could swim in. And you could jump off the top into the freezing water and swim under one part of the fall into a little cave. Then as you followed it up there was the main waterfall, it was quite high. I climbed to the top with Ido for a nice view down and out. We went to the marker early evening and I bought a couple of things, then we had dinner and went to the same disco as the night before, but this time we didn't get to show off our new dance moves. After it closed at dead on 12 we got Ido's guitar and went down by the riverside to sing until about 2am.

Time for my final day in Laos. Ido and UV flew down to Bangkok, Ziv got a morning bus and I was getting an evening bus; I woke up early to do some sight-seeing before I had to go. I climbed a small mountain in the centre of the town, it had a temple on the top, a few buddha's in caves and a 360 degree view. There wasn't too much else to see in the town, just a couple more temples, after that I went to a bakery in town and started talking with a girl working there and she ended up giving me free cookies for the next hour of two which was perfect! Then it was time for my bus, the ride was... average. Cool temperature on the bus and the guy next to me didn't take up any of my space. And I had 2 seats after dropping people off in Vang Vieng. But they played music quite loud all the way, except for about an hour when I asked them not to! And it's a really rough ride through the mountains; a lot of the Laos people were sick. One time we stopped and the strangest thing happened, which I thought maybe I dreamt but it turns out I didn't. When we came to a stop I half woke up, then a couple of minutes later they turned the lights on so I opened my eyes... to see a guy walking down the isle with a machine gun in each arm. He sat behind me and off we went. I was a bit scared at first - had they just killed someone or were they about to kill us?! But then I remembered I was in Asia, so just went back to sleep!

I arrived in Vientiane at 5am and no guesthouses were open. I was really tired so fell asleep on a bench outside a guesthouse and waited for it to open! I just took a bed in a dorm room for about a dollar so that I could get a few hours sleep. I woke up and met up with Ziv, we planned to get the night train down to Bangkok but it was full so in stead we took the night bus. But it was a really nice bus, and I had 4 seats (2 either side of the isle) so was able to lie down. 5am again and we were in Bangkok! laos photo's and Bangkok write up to come next, though I don't know when. Now I'm in Singapore airport taking advantage of the free internet. I had a 5 hour wait before my flight in Bangkok airport because they told me it took 4 times longer to get there than it really did and now I have a 5 hour wait here because my flights been delayed. But this one is a good airport to get stuck in, the aforementioned free internet, free movies, and I've just finished a session in a massage chair! I can't believe I'm leaving Asia after 7 months, it's so weird. But I've got a feeling it won't be long before I'm back; have kind of said I'm gonna be back in 9 months to a year! We'll see... And in about 12 hours going to be in Australia! It'll be weird to be around Westerners again, and to be able to talk my language without any problems, to get what I order, to not be hassled etc etc. But I'll definately miss the Asian way of life and the cheapness of Asia! And Mat is coming in 2 days, haven't seen him for over 7 months!