Vang Vieng

So there is this little town in Laos called Vang Vieng. Hugging the Nam Song river, surrounded by beautiful mountains and practically in the middle of nowhere it has become this sort of massively popular party town. It's quite surreal really, there are a million little bar restaurants where you can get mostly western food (read: pizza) and for whatever reason watch Friends. Yes, that crappy TV show. It appears that the Lao think that westerners are beer guzzling, pizza eating, marijuana smoking, crappy sitcom watching people. While, admittedly, this is not so far off, the idea of a place like Vang Vieng is, for many westerners, hell on earth. I was weary about going but was in serious need of some party. See, unlike most of South America where even the smallest little shit town is likely to have an all night rumba, South East Asia closes early and parties seldom (outside of the major tourist areas of course). So we headed out.

Most people go tubing in Vang Vieng -- yes, apple river style tubing. You get a tube at about 11am, float down the river and get drunk and at various riverside bars. They throw out bamboo sticks, reel you in give you free shots and encourage you to go on their massive, dangerous rope swings and zip lines into the river. Needless to say, many people come back severely drunk and hurt. Apparently, some people have actually died -- getting too drunk and drowning in the river. But like any third world country desperate for tourist's cash there are no safety regulations and no one even suggesting that massive amounts of alcohol, 20 foot high rope swings and dangerous rapids might not go together so nicely. But in the end, I'm glad a place like Vang Vieng exists -- get in, have fun, get out. Though it saddens me when I meet people who waste 2 weeks of their month long trip to SE Asia in a place like Vang Vieng. It seems like such a waste; I think we'd all be better off if they'd just go to Wisconsin.

Laos is more expensive than Thailand. This is relative of course -- I mean, I'm still spending well under $20 a day. It's also a little less touristy but not by much. You also get charged for EVERYTHING. For the first time in my life I've actually paid to walk (not drive) across a bridge. Ridiculous -- seriously, I could have waded through the river. The local currency is the Kip. You get about $8,800 kip to the dollar making transactions extra fun. Plus the biggest bill they have is a 50,000 kip. This "large" bill has apparently just been introduced. They celebrate this achievement by posting billboard adverts all over the country. It's like "yay! inflation!" Obviously, I'm a bit annoyed by the wad of cash stuffing up my pocket that equals about two dollars. But anyway, hows the states? I hear it's cold!

Laos

Really, I've been meaning to write more but I just can't sit around the computer for so long anymore...at least not when it's so nice outside. I'm not sure it's rained since I've been here. But anyway, I'm currently in Laos, known for mmmmmm nothing I guess...It's land locked and very poor. The locals are nice enough though and the landscape is amazing. Plus they drink this rice whiskey called lao lao that is really, really cheap and there is the very drinkable beer lao. Accomodation is slightly more expensive than Thailand costing a whopping five dollars a night for a room and food is dirt cheap -- I've been eating at this outdoor veggie buffet, you fill your plate for about 50 cents. I've spent the last two days travelling down the Mekong River on a slow boat. I'm not sure that that sounds super exciting and to be honest it wasn't, they cram a bunch of tourists on a shotty boat with asian (read small) size seats and you go down the river. It's nice for like an hour when you're like oooo look a mountain or ooooo look some kids bathing in the water. Then you stop at a small village and it's that whole human zoo thing that kinda makes you sick so you start thinking about the dollar beer lao they are selling in the back and well you know the rest of the story. But really, Laos is great. The french colonized the reagion so there are some great colonial buildings and if you are sick as shit of noodles and rice you can get a baguette sandwich and they have real coffee. Plus there are real cool signs in our guest house that say we can't have sex with anyone unless they are our wife and that if we do drugs we will be subject to the death penelty but of course there are people offering you weed everyday. And to top it all off, the bars close at 1130 and there is a 12am curfew. Yes, you must be in your bed by 12 or you are breaking the law. But seriously, I do like this place.

Chiang Mai, Pai and the Mae Hong Son Loop

Chiang Mai is the gateway to northern Thailand and also the second biggest city (I think?). Most people use the city as a base to do some trekking, visit hill tribes and ride elephants. People are like jumping out of their seats to get you on to these organized tours. I contemplated it and decided it just wasn't for me and headed to Pai intent on renting a motorbike and riding around the mountains for a while. Pai is a total hippy town. It's super chill, set in the mountains and seems to attract all sorts of different people. After the craziness of Bangkok and the tourist trap of Chiang Mai I found it quite refreshing. In Pai I got together some people I had met in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, rented some 125cc scooters for 3 dollars a day, bought a map and headed out.

ahhhh...I really intended to write about this whole 5 day trip, about how I got deathly ill for two days, rode my bike into a ditch, made it to the Burmese border, saw some great little villages with the nicest people and had a super awesome time but I've been on the internet for going on two hours and am hungry. I'm back in Pai, I didn't get hurt on my fall (though it was quite amusing to many a Thai) and my death sickness was terrible yet short lived. Maybe I'll write more about it later but probably not. I did, however, post a bunch of pictures to facebook. See the link below (you don't need to sign up). I've given up posting pics directly to this site, it's way too slow.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73785&l=fc80a&id=581927958