Thursday, July 28, 2011

Work Experience in Bali!


I found out today that I've been accepted to do a couple of weeks of work experience with Grounds Kent Architects in Bali! I've admired the resort designs of Grounds Kent for a while now so I'm absolutely thrilled!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Backpack!

My new backpack arrived today! 65L Caribee Akula with detachable daypack. Bargain from eBay. Opted to buy a new one rather than take my hybrid backpack/trolley I took last time.. waaay too heavy/bulky.


Exciting!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Last minute preparations

2 weeks 5 days. Good and a bad thing. Good because in 2 weeks I'll be on a beach, bad because I only have 2 weeks to get everything organised!!

Still waiting for my new backpack to arrive (bought on eBay for very cheap price). And the 16GB SD card I also purchased via eBay. Have to go and get passport photos so I can arrange my Indian visa. Typhoid injection on Tuesday. Giving my 2 weeks notice at the cafe tomorrow, and have to chase them up about my group certificate so I can get my tax return done before I leave (I need the money!!). One year in hospitality is definitely enough for me. Draining my soul. Also have to book a few more flights, buy my travel insurance, pack and move out of my room here!! Oh oh oh and get my portfolio pretty much done for entry to Monash Architecture!

These are just some of the things running through my head....

Friday, July 22, 2011

COMING SOON

Next adventure will be Indonesia, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and will last 4 months!

Begins.... in 3 weeks!!! Countdown is on!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Phuket!

Ok SORRY I've been so slack.. the last few days of our trip were spent in Phuket, pretty much doing nothing.. hence updating the blog would have interfered with the 'nothingness' and there really isn't that much to report on anyway!

We had prebooked ourselves a Deluxe Room at the Rayaburi Hotel at Patong Beach to celebrate the end of our 2 month adventure (and to try and cheer ourselves up about the fact that we were about to return home to work/study!).

Our days consisted of lying on sunloungers on the very-crowded Patong Beach, reading, swimming, shopping, eating.... that's it. I can tell you that I am not missing the constant "G'day Mate, want a suit?" or "Hello lady, you want massage?" that followed us wherever we went!

One night we ventured to the infamous Bangla Rd to check it out, and I can safely say that it was the seediest place we've been on the whole trip! Prostitutes everywhere, Thai girls (or ladyboys? hard to tell sometimes) dancing on bars, PingPong Shows etc etc. Absolutely packed with people! There were guys carrying around big iguanas, trying to get tourists to get a photo with their iguana so they could charge them money. Those things really freak me out... which is why I went running when about 5 guys with iguanas started cornering me. ARGH. There were also a group of ladyboys in costume standing on the side of the street getting people to take photos with them (and charging for it, of course). I went up for a photo... "Hold me!" squealed the ladyboy, so I obliged.. even though I'm not entirely sure why they'd want me to hold them, considering I'm a female. Steve didn't want a photo, but the ladyboys protested (Steve has a way with Asian men...) so Steve decided to lose his inhibitions and get a photo too. Turns out the ladyboys really like Steve too, as evidenced by the way one of them held Steve's hand to their 'breast'. Check the photo out, it's hilarious. Funny how they got a lot closer to Steve in his photo than they did to me in my photo....

After that we decided to escape Bangla Rd and head down to the beach and check out the party that they were throwing for the Chinese New Year. We lit up a paper lantern (which I've always wanted to do!) and sat in the sand watching it float away.

Next day was Valentine's day and we spent the day lounging around in true Phuket fashion. We both got Thai massages, and went to a really nice restaurant literally on the beach for dinner and delicious dessert. It was a really nice way to spend the last night of our trip!

The next morning we took a taxi to the airport, on the way we reminisced and made a list of things we would and wouldn't miss about SE Asia.. actually I might post that here on the blog if I can remember it all!

After aaages lining up at Phuket airport (there was a 10m line just to get in the door.. they really need to redesign that airport!) we caught our first flight to Singapore. At Changi airport we had a stopover for a few hours in which we used the free foot massage chairs, free internet and visited the Butterfly Room! Changi really is the best airport.

The flight to Brisbane was great.. I love Singapore Airlines. Plenty of leg room, seats recline a fair way back, your own personal screen and heaps of movies and tv shows etc, AND the food is great! Only problem I found was that they only turned the lights out for about 2hrs and then served breakfast straight away... which didn't allow for much sleep! We arrived at Brisbane airport at about 6am. It felt so good to be back on our home turf and to hear Aussie accents, even though it meant we were no longer travelling.

I've added a Thailand photo album.. but then realised really how 'on holiday' we were; we took about 4 photos in Thailand! oops! Sorry guys! But hey, we had fun :)

Amiee x

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Baaaangkok

Flew to Thailand yesterday morning. Was THE longest airport check-in/customs etc process we've had to go through in both airports! Took an expensive taxi to the backpacker area, Khao San Rd. Hotels, restaurants, shops EVERYWHERE. There's even a Burger King, McDonalds, and Subway.. no surprise really. We did our usual trick of Amiee sitting somewhere with our bags while Steve runs from hotel to hotel finding the best value room. This time I sat in a cafe and enjoyed a coffee shake (I was staaarving at that point). We then went and checked in to our room, and then went and ate some Pad Thai and fresh orange juice. I was feeling very sluggish and not at all well, which is unusual considering how much shopping there is to do here! I had to sit down on the gutter.. Steve suggested he take me back to the hotel, which turned out to be a good idea because as soon as I got into the bathroom I threw up my entire stomach contents. First time I've had food poisoning the entire trip and it happens within a couple of hours of getting into Thailand! Great. Felt a lot better afterwards though, had a bit of a nap and then went shopping :)

Shopping was exhausting due to the amount of failed haggling.. they try to charge ridiculous prices here for things, compared to what we've been paying for similar items in the rest of South East Asia. We're going to head to the big markets today and are hoping the prices might be a bit more reasonable. Thinking the prices on Khao San might be more expensive because it's so touristy. Had some encounters with some very unfriendly shop assistants yesterday, most notable was the guy running the bookshop we were browsing in. I saw a big book on 'Thai Architecture' and reached up and got it from the shelf to look at. He came over, took it out of my hands, showed me the price (RIDICULOUSLY overpriced at 1800 baht = $60AUD) and then put it back up on the shelf. Bastard. Not sure how he's expecting to sell it ever if he won't let anyone even look at it. Hmphf.

Had a quiet night reading books in our room, despite staying on a very rowdy party street. Was not up to going out after recent food poisoning! Spending the day in Bangkok today, and then flying to Phuket early tomorrow morning :)

Amiee x

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Mui Ne... then back to Saigon!!

Spent 2 nights in Mui Ne.. not really much to do other than kite surf (if you're into that sort of thing.. was way too expensive for us to give it a go at this stage in our trip).. although there are some really cool sand dunes nearby.. the place looks like a mini Sahara desert! Photos to come soon.

Today we've completed our grand circuit and have made it back to Saigon! Would have loved to have had twice the time to do it, but we've done pretty well with the time we've had, I think! Tomorrow morning we fly over to Bangkok, and then the following day down to Phuket where we commence the final stage of our trip: lying on a beautiful beach and doing as close to nothing as possible. Have started to try and come to terms with the fact that we'll be home soon.. but trying not to think about it toooo much as it makes us sad... except for the fact that going back to Australia means seeing friends and relatives, of course ;)

Amiee xx

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang!

Just realised it's been about a week since my last post so I thought I should probably update!
After Hanoi, we arrived in Hue via a sleeper train and spent a night there. Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam at one point, so we spent the morning visiting some of the monuments, mainly the Citadel. The architecture is a lot more 'oriental' here. We found the Citadel a bit underwhelming; most of it had been demolished, demolished and rebuilt at some point in history, or was currently being rebuilt. Inside the Citadel was a forbidden city where the Emperor spent his personal life (and which housed the Emperors' concubines; consequently only male servants who were eunuchs were allowed to enter - which we found amusing). We thought the Emperor's Reading Room was nice, but we were disappointed to find that you couldn't actually enter the building. We snuck a peak inside and saw a few shoes, clothing etc.. it looked like one of the employees were living there!

Next we took a fairly short bus ride (only about 4 hours) to Hoi An. Most beautiful town we've visited so far.. AND home to hundreds of tailors and cobblers! AND a gooorgeous quiet beach. Perfection! The lovely old buildings around Hoi An have been beautifully preserved and refurbished and it just creates such a great atmosphere. The streets were decorated with colourful paper lanterns ready for the Tet (New Year) celebrations, and there are countless little restaurants and bars overlooking the river. Ah I just can't describe well enough how amazing it is! On the first day I went a bit crazy with getting clothes and shoes made (Steve was off exploring Hoi An by bike hehe).. but hey, it would cost at least 3x the price in Aus AND everything fits perfectly (except for 1 pair of shoes but that's a long story!). We took the lovely 4km bike ride to the beach, which is a gorgeous wide stretch of sand with hundreds of palm trees and enjoyed a fresh coconut.. ahhh the sererenity :) I love palm trees. We were sad to leave Hoi An but we were running out of time and had to get back on the road.

After a rather (thankfully) uneventful sleeper bus journey (on which we actually got some sleep!!!) we arrived early yesterday morning in Nha Trang, a the beach city of Vietnam. We spent the morning catching up on some sleep (even though we slept on the bus, the many times we woke up during the night tends to reduce the quality of the sleep!), and then did some sight-seeing. The highlight of our stay here is definitely our visit to the Thap Ba Hot Springs; we had so much fun there! For $5 each we went through a huge process of various treatments. First, a hot mineral spring shower before soaking in a mineral mud path for several minutes. We both agree that the mud bath was definitely the most fun.. and you could float on the mud so easily! Next we had to lie in the sun for a few minutes (for all the muddy goodness to absorb into our skin??) before taking another hot mineral spring shower to rinse off. We then had some hot spring 'hydrotherapy' which involved walking through a 'hallway' of high pressure water jets. Not sure what that was supposed to accomplish really. Then we got into a hot mineral spring water bath.. it was so hot we felt like lobsters. After we couldn't stand the heat any longer, we had a shower under the mini waterfall. I could see a group of Asian men watching us and giggling amongst themselves. Steve jumped into the hot spring pool while I spent a bit longer in the waterfall, at which point I was approached by one of the giggling Asian men (the spokesman??).

Spokesman: "Your boyfriend is very handsome!"
Me: "Uh.. yes he is.. you like him??"
Spokesman: "We all like him!"

Looks like I've got some competition here! Steve couldn't work out why I was giggling so much when I joined him in the pool! Hehe.

Today we visited an amusement park called Vinpearl Land on an island off-shore. They've built 'Vinpearl' in giant white letters on the top of the island (Hollywood-style) that can be seen clearly from the mainland. Very subtle. The cable-car ride over to the island was very scenic.. it's supposedly the longest cross-sea cable-car? We got to Vinpearl Land at about 11am and practically had the place to ourselves! We spent the first hour-ish in the Indoor Games area.. a giant arcade where all the games were free! There were some super-ridiculous arcade games! There was one that was a racing game, but instead of pressing buttons like normal.. you had to scream into a microphone to make your player accelerate.. although I found that hysterical laughter works just as well as yelling! We rode fake horses, threw coloured balls at a game-screen (it was part of the game!), went on a '4D' virtual rollercoaster ride, and got zapped by dodgy pistols in a shooter-game. Having developed square eyes, we took a stroll down to the water park section. It looked just like an Australian water-park.. except there is no way in hell that some of the slides would be approved in Australia! Most of the slides that you went on without tubes acted a bit like a grater, taking skin off your back! And a lot of the slides dumped you into a kiddy pool at the end, rather than one that is actually deep enough! My favourite was a slide called the 'Tsunami' in which you were dumped (in a double tube) into a half pipe (so steep that we actually 'got air' at a point!) and then slid up and down the sides until you lost momentum and were dumped (literally) into a kiddy pool... except we didn't lose momentum quite as quickly as we were supposed to (thanks to Steve pushing us off the sides!) and we slammed into the side, narrowly avoiding concussion. I think the fear of death definitely added to the thrill of the rides... because although part of you knows that the rides are fine.. another part says.. "well.. this is Asia....... what if...".

Unfortunately we have to leave tomorrow morning to spend a couple of nights in Mui Ne. This whole 'limited time' thing sucks. We're definitely coming back! Seriously.

Goodnight!!
Amiee x

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Halong Bay

We got back to Hanoi yesterday after visiting Halong Bay for 2 nights. Halong Bay itself was very beautiful even though the weather wasn't perfect for it. It was the first time on the trip we've actually done part of an organised tour and we struggled a bit getting told what to do and how long to do it for! Our buddy Stu came with us for the last few days of his trip before flying home to Manchester yesterday :(

On the first day of our Halong Bay trip we got picked up by the cruise company in a mini-bus and taken to our junk boat. We were a bit shocked to find that the 3 of us were the only Westerners on the boat with us; we had a Vietnamese couple who didn't speak English and a father and son from Malaysia who were lovely. We cruised around the islands a bit, before arriving at 'Surprise Cave'. It's called 'Surprise Cave' because of the bits of stalagtite/stalagmite formations that supposedly look like various things like a penguin, a turtle, buddha, a Vietnamese King, Romeo & Juliet, a lion...... to me it just looked like a cave but I could see the resemblence in some of them if I squinted a bit? The biggest surprise of all was the penis shaped formation.. which would look less like a penis and more like someone pointing their finger at something, had it not been suggestively illuminated with pink light. After all the excitement of Surprise Cave we went kayaking around for a while, stopping/beaching ourselves at Bonau cave and having a look around and then continuing to aimlessly paddle around the islands.

The night-time activities on the boat involved the crew singing karaoke (loudly), so the 3 of us decided to opt for a game of cards in our room.

The second day we were taken to Cat Ba island (the biggest in Halong Bay and the 2nd biggest island in Vietnam) for some hiking. I was thanking God I'd decided to wear proper shoes rather than flip-flops after slipping and climbing up very steep and slippery muddy paths and over and around rocks. The hike took us to the top of one of the island's peaks where there was a 30m viewing tower. The tower (which we fondly nicknamed the 'Tower of Tetanus') was completely rusted and despite the sign at the bottom stating 'Max. 5 people', the guy in charge was letting 10 or more people up at a time. After our brush with death, we were surprised to find that we had to slide back down the way we came, past people that were still trying to clamber up. Very safe! :)

We were then taken to Cat Ba town for lunch and a bit of a stroll, and then back to the harbour to be picked up and taken back to our boat. While we were waiting at the harbour I was put to work by one of the local hawker ladies and carried around her snacks for her, hassling my fellow tourists. She was schooling me in what to say and everything.. very entertaining, and a great way to pass time! It was nice to find a hawker with an actual sense of humour! I ended up making 40,000d (about $2) in sales for her ;)

When we got back to the boat we had new company (the others decided to stay on Cat Ba for the night), a group of Thai women. They had had a bit of a bad run so far; they only got to kayak for 30minutes, and were even more pissed off when the boat crew commandeered the only sofa-booth on the boat and refused to let them sit there to play cards, even when asked politely! So we all decided to keep away from the rude boat crew and play cards on our back balcony. Steve got sick twice on the boat from the food, and they tried to make me pay US$3.50 for breaking a glass!! Left a bit of a sour taste in our mouths (literally for Steve.. haha) but we enjoyed Halong Bay itself.

We're leaving Hanoi on a sleeper train tonight for the old capital of Hue. The staff at the hotel here have been so absolutely amazing.. the best service I have ever encountered! They come and sit and talk with us while we wait for our complementary breakfast to be cooked, they let us leave our luggage here while we were in Halong Bay, they booked our train for us and let us check out late at 5pm, and soon they are going to come with us to the train station to show us where we need to be so we don't get confused by all the people grabbing us! I highly recommend this hotel to anyone visiting Hanoi.. it's called the "Hanoi Boutique Hotel" on Bat Su Street. Amazing.

Amiee x

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Back in 'Nam...

We spent the last 2 nights in Luang Prabang, Laos. The bus ride from Vang Vieng was very scenic and quite enjoyable, even though it took about 7 hours to travel 230km. The jagged mountain ranges in the North of Laos are just so beautiful. We were lucky enough to meet up again with our dearest travel buddies in Luang Prabang, which made the place even more fun. There is an amazing bar on the riverfront called Utopia, and, unlike other 'Utopia' bars we've been to on this trip (there seems to be one in every town..) it wasn't seedy at all! Darts, foolsball (spelling?), beach volleyball, giant Jenga.. all under a giant thatched gazebo with landscaped tropical garden. You can probably tell that I'm in love with the place! Megan and I were talking to the manager the day before Aus Day and convinced him to have a big Australia day party and put up flyers around the town, which he did! Smart man.

On Australia Day, Steve & I + our dearest Melbournite travel buddies, Megan & Lewis, plus Stu from Manchester, our token English buddy who we trained to say "I'm from Sydney" in an Australian accent for the day, all met up for breakfast and then headed out to Kouang Si Waterfalls. THE MOST amazing waterfalls I've been to! They were so gorgeous! There was the main huge waterfall, and then many tiers of small waterfalls spilling into turquoise swimming pools. The place looked like a landscaped very-flash tropical resort's swimming pool. PLUS to top it off.. there was a rescue centre for Asiatic Black Bears there, so we got to have a look at them too. Afterwards, we all met up for for drinks and nibblies in the courtyard of our hotel, and then went to Utopia. The manager let Megan and I 'DJ' for the night + we got a couple of free drinks, because the whole Aus Day party had been our idea! Unfortunately there is a Laos-wide 12AM curfew so Utopia shut, but we found a bowling alley on the outskirts of town that stayed open until 3AM... so that's where we finished off the night! An amazing Australia Day, even if we are in Laos!

We all woke very tired this morning, met for breakfast, and said our goodbyes to Megan & Lewis. We were all a little heartbroken. We do get to keep our token Englishman, Stu, for a bit longer though, as he flew with us to Hanoi in Vietnam this afternoon, where we are currently. We decided to pay the extra and get a flight to Hanoi rather than taking the 3-day bus trip, as we are quickly running out of time! Our plane was tiny and even had propellors, but the view was absolutely gorgeous, and despite it only being a 1-hour flight, they fed us! :D

We'd heard a lot of stories from people about Hanoi being a bit unfriendly and full of scams, and within an hour of arriving we'd already found that to be true. The airport is waaaaaay out of town, so you have to get the bus or share a taxi. As there were 3 of us, we decided just to share a taxi. We agreed with the 'taxi pimp' (the guy who organises the taxi fare, and then takes us to the taxi) that we would pay a total of 250,000d between the 3 of us, but when we got into town, the taxi driver demanded another 20,000d. As he didn't speak a word of English, we couldn't establish what the hell the extra fee was supposed to be for, but despite our protesting, we were made to pay it anyway. On top of that, he didn't take us to the hotel we had asked to be taken to (which had been recommended by Meg&Lew), but another hotel in a parallel street. The hotel guy then tried to tell us that his hotel was in fact the hotel we had wanted to go to, despite being on the wrong street, and having a completely different name. When we pointed this out, he tried to tell us that it was owned by the same people, which is a load of crap, so we made the taxi driver take us where we had originally intended. Sheesh.

The recommended hotel was full, but we found another really nice one with amazing customer service. Our hotel guy spent ages with us helping us go through the different companies that offer boat tours around Halong Bay and then booked it for us (he used to be a tour guide apparently), + he gave us a free drink each, free breakfast in the morning, and is making sure that they have a room available for us when we get back from Halong Bay. Oh and we get to keep our increasingly heavy luggage here, and just pack a backpack with a couple of changes of clothes. He also recommended a Vietnamese restaurant for us, which was AMAZING. Mmmmmm! Cost us about $13 between the 3 of us. Such good value.

Anyway, very tired now so I'm going to bed; just thought I should do a bit of an update before we leave tomorrow. We'll be in Halong Bay on a 'junk' boat for the next 2 days doing kayaking, caving, hiking etc etc. It's going to be amazing! :D

Amiee x

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Still in Vang Vieng...

This place just doesn't let you leave! We originally planned for 2 nights here.. but after tonight, we'll have been here for 6! I blame the 2 days of crappy rainy weather though. I can see why some Westerners just stay here permanently and work in the bars for free food & accommodation. As much as I really want to leave and keep on going.. I also kinda want to stay..... hopefully the spell will be broken once we hop on the bus to Luang Prabang tomorrow.

Our time is running out waaaaaaay too quickly. The first half of our trip we took so slowly because we felt like we had soo long overseas... and now it's like AAARGH where has our time gone?! We need more time!! We're definitely going to have to come back! Why can't we just be millionaires now and just travel as often and for as long as we want?? I do miss friends & family back home.. but we've just made so many awesome friends over here as well!

We had a really fun time last night when we arrived back at our guesthouse from tubing, went to pick up at our key at reception, only for them to tell us that they don't have it. They then proceeded to tell us that WE had actually taken the key.. which was all lies, because we distinctly remember putting it on their counter, and there is no way we would have taken it tubing with us! So they continued to blame us for losing it, and to top things off... there was no spare key!!! Steve and I then proceeded to freak out because we thought someone must have taken the key from the counter and taken all our money/passports/cameras/ipod etc from our room. The only English speaking Lao woman at the office informed us that she remembers us leaving WITH the key (BULLSHIT!) and that we had to wait for a locksmith to come (God knows how long that was going to take!). Steve and I weren't very happy at this point.. and very worried that all our stuff would be gone, so Steve decided to climb in through the bars in the windows (I have absolutely no idea how he managed to fit!). PHEW.. all our stuff was safe.. but we still couldn't leave to go have dinner because we couldn't lock our room. I went and found the main guesthouse woman to try and explain that we had managed to get the door open, but we still needed a key, but failed to do so because she spoke pretty much no English whatsoever. I tried to get her to go and get the English speaking woman so I could talk to her, but she didn't understand that either. We got her to come so she could see that we had got into the room... but that then made her think that we had the key afterall! So we then tried to explain that no we did NOT have the key, and that Steve had gotten in through the window. To achieve this, Steve had to demonstrate going through the window again, which made the woman yell a lot and threaten to call the police and have Steve arrested, for 'breaking in' to our own room. Another Lao girl came out who spoke a little English and said something about the possibility of a drunken family member of the guesthouse owners taking our key by accident before going out to party, and yet the other 2 main guesthouse women were still angrily blaming us for losing the key and denying any possibility that they had lost it. Confusing stuff. So then we had to wait for a 'locksmith' to come and fit a new lock (no doubt at our expense!). I went and met our friends for dinner while Steve waited and helped the locksmith. Finally we had a new lock and a key (+ 2 spares for the guesthouse!). Just as the locksmith finished.. the non-english speaking guesthouse woman (the one that had been yelling a lot) came out sheepishly with a key she had found and asked if it was ours. Which it was. Apparently the key had been in the drawer of the reception counter the entire time. She said sorry, but I am still not happy with them! And this morning, the guesthouse women have been glaring at me! God knows what for, considering it was entirely their fault! Gah. Fun times had by all, but at least it worked out for us in the end!

Steve has gone rock climbing for the entire day today, which should be amazing. I opted not to go to save money (plus a whole day would be a bit too long for me)... Steve's the main rock climbing enthusiast. After I finish posting this I'll probably be really original and go and watch some Friends! Haha.

Having a great time & loving life.
Amiee xx

Friday, January 22, 2010

Vang Vieng

I could never get sick of the scenery here! Huge tree-covered limestone mountains jutting out everywhere, incredibly blue lagoons and creeks.. it's very gorgeous. It reminds me of the Glasshouse Mountains but 50x more intense. Haven't got any good photos to show yet, though, because it's been a bit rainy!

The day before yesterday we hired mountain bikes and rode 6km out to a cave (I forget its name) and lagoon. The cave was absolutely huge and very interesting to explore! We've had to postpone tubing and rock climbing due to the rain.. I really hope it clears up soon! It feels like wasted time when you can't do anything!

The town of Vang Vieng is very crazy and very tourist-oriented. There are heaps of 'surf shops' selling Billabong and Roxy boardshorts etc, you can buy TimTams and Mars Bars etc from most shops, Pantene Pro-V and Lynx deodorant are even available! Almost every restaurant is constantly playing episodes of Friends or Family Guy. Going shirtless is not very acceptable in Lao culture, but most Western guys strut around the streets in just their boardshorts anyway. I've also seen several girls wearing nothing but bikinis around the streets, probably on their way home from tubing... I just think it's very disrespectful! There are always drunk Westerners around due to the numerous riverside bars offering free whiskey shots and cheap 'buckets' of alcohol. Not to mention the availability of weed, opium, and 'mushrooms' in most bars. There is supposed to be a 12am curfew in Laos, but some of the bars down on the river manage to stay open past that most nights; there is always the loud ruckus of Westerners heading home after they shut. Last night it was about 130 when they all got back to town; I could tell from all the shouting and door slamming. I'm not having a big whinge, I'm just trying to give an illustration of what it's like here! I really feel for the local Lao people, they must be so sick of all the tourists and having to constantly listen to Friends and Family Guy episodes!

Our motorbike wounds are healing well, and we're both healthy and happy :)
Amiee x

Laos album