Lao-vely

Sabaay di from Vientiane, Laos. I've been here a day and tonight I take the night train back to Bangkok, where I'll celebrate my birthday (23, if you're counting. and yes, donations are still accepted). I want to do it up in style in a four star hotel, but I'm meeting up w/ 2 lads from Galway and they're scraping nickels together at this point. So, i see a "tree" dollar guest house in my future.
Laos has been great. I took the slow boat from the Thai/Laos border down to the town of Luang Prabang. The slow boat is this long, narrow boat that's probable 70 ft long and 9 ft wide. It has cushioned seats up front (1st class), fold out wooden chairs behind them (2nd clas), then floor space (third class) and finally the engine room (steerage). Seating is on a first come/first served basis, and the first day I found myslef in 2nd class with ample leg room, sitting next to this lad from Wales. The next day, I wasnt so lucky. Got to the boat late and found myself in steerage sitting literally right behind this diesel engine with an almost deafening roar. Thankfully, this guy next to me had a spare pair of earplugs, so I was able to drown out some of the noise. After adjusting to the noise, I tried to read a bit, and then settled on sitting out the window and taking in the view. All in all, not bad. The slow boat cruised down the Mekong river at a gentle pace, and lasted two 7 hour days. We stopped at this tiny place, Pak Beng for the first night to refuel and stay the night. Overall, I really enjoyed the boat ride. They served refreshments on board, the scenery was nice: mud brown river with lush vegetation on the mountains surrounding us. Plus, we had some good craic. I met a good group of people on the boat, and I've traveled with them the rest of the way down Laos. In all, there's 2 Dutch girls, a Swedish girl, 2 Americans, and 4 English blokes.
Luang Prabang was a nice town, but not exactly what I expected from the glowing review it got in my guide book. I visited the former royal palace there, and biked around town seeing the various temples and such. LP, like Thailand and everywhere else I've been has been very humid. You sweat when you sit, and you're dripping if you have to walk long distances with a bag on you back. So, I opt for the tuk tuk (motorbike taxis) everywhere I go.
From LP, I caught a 8 hr bus (advertised as 5) to Vang Vien. The trip was longer because 1) you can't hardly believe a word anyone says and 2) the bus got a flat tire. About the dishonesty, 99.99% of people in the tourism industry lie to you. Whether it's about prices, quality, duration, amenities or whatever you gotta take it worth a grain of salt. Unfortunately, it took me a couple days to figure this out. So, if they ever made a National Lampoon's SE Asian Vacation movie, I could definitely play the part of Clark Griswald. But to my own defense, this is SE Asia. I mean Laos doesn't even have foreign ATM's, so you don't want to get assume it's gonna be like home.
Anyway, Vang Vien had nice scenery to the west, where there were large mountains that pierced the clouds. The streets and the buildings in the town, however, weren't as picturesque. A lot of rubble in the strrets and worn down buildings. VV's best attraction is the tubing, where they drop you off 6K north of town and have you float down the river, and stop at these places along the river where locals sell refreshments etc and there are rope swings along the way. I did it twice, and they were two relaxing days.
Instead of getting the bus to Vientiane some of us decided to kayak part of the way and get a tuk tuk for the second part. We were two to a kayak, and it was a nice float down the river through some grade 2 rapids. Weather wasn't the best, as a thunder storm came through. And when one of the Dutch girls asked about if anyone's died from the thunder, the guide quickly replied " no no... but from the lightning, yes". And he wasn't kidding or even fazed. So, with that, we hightailed to the end. The storm didn't last long, but when it rains here, it pours, and we were a little soggy for the journey home.
Vientiane isn't much, although it does offer the only international ATM's in the entire country. I had to bring in foreign currency and exchange it over as my ATM card doesnt work here. Laos has a crazy exchange rate (10,000 kip=1USD), so it was a bit strange walking around with a mil in my pocket, but I got used to it.
Sorry, for the delay in blogs, but I hope Ireland has been great and the lads have been firing at the sticks. Niall, congrats once again.

Cheers,
Jaimito