Don Det & Vientiene

So we finally made it to Laos!

We spent a couple of nights on the island of Don Det in Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands) on the Mekong River. Very picturesque and laid back. We stayed in a little bungalow with just a bed and a mosquito net, with our own little verandah and hammock over the water. Not much to do but walk around and explore the island.. we also took a little boat tour around the islands at sunset, which was lovely.

We then took an overnight bus to the capital of Vientiene. Can't say it was the best night's sleep I've had.. in fact it was probably in the top 5 worst. It was a sleeper bus with beds, which is all good in theory, except the beds were narrower and shorter than a single mattress, and one ticket buys you half that bed. So 2 people are crammed onto the one tiny bed! Luckily I'm travelling with Steve because I can't imagine having to share with a stranger! Well actually, I can.. because we were 'lucky' enough to get the back row, which consisted of supposedly enough room for 5 people and so it was an Amiee sandwhich between Steve and Random Strangers. I learnt that I can't actually sleep with strange people invading my personal space!

We arrived in Vientiene at about 6am and walked around trying to find a spare room in a guesthouse for a couple of hours; everywhere was full or out of our price range! We eventually found a place though and I got my much needed catch up on sleep. Vientiene is nice.. a lot more orderly and clean than all the other major cities we've visited.. and no constant honking!! I find it interesting that just across the Mekong is Thailand! You can just glance over and there it is! Maybe I find that so fascinate having only lived in Australia where we're an island and have no neighbouring countries?

This evening we've arrived in Vang Vieng. If Contiki was a town, this would be it. Heaps of young people, heaps of bars, very much catering to Western taste (I found a packet of M&M's!!!!). Some people would turn up their noses and say that it's too 'touristy' and that this isn't the 'real' Laos... we know.. but so far we like it anyway. There's tubing, caving and rockclimbing etc for us to do over the next few days so no doubt we'll have a lot of fun here.

I'll post some photos soon, I promise.
Amiee x