Cakey Wakey

This country is seriously laid back. We had rushed to breakfast at 6 to allow a stupid amount of time to make a 7.30 bus and we were still in danger of not making it in time. Things just happen at a different pace around here, when they happen.
Breakfast finally appeared, so we shovelled our omelettes and boiled eggs down in the fifteen or so minutes we were left with and bid farewell to Mrs Bon Appetitti (her spelling, not mine),her two beloved dogs and a single puppy. We had spent two nights at her small, slightly run down but friendly guesthouse while searching for that big 7km cave that runs through the mountain.

ALL ABOARD THE SKYLARK!! It's six hours of joy to Vientiane. Six hours of people clearing their throats (we're talking fully fledged snorting up a green one) and for our entertainment, music videos with themes that seem to be set around domestic situations, for instance, man gets up and writes a shopping list, (into chorus) man visits a supermarket. Another featured a girl who gets a bit of a runny nose. Has to be said, some of the music is quite interesting.
Nastassja ended up sitting next to a lovely Laos girl who had a pretty damn fine Anglo Saxon tongue. She took a few pics of Stash on her mobile and bought her a bottle of orange from the refreshment ladies who randomly board the coach for a mile or however long it takes to walk up and down the bus selling their stuff, before hopping off again.

Things is getting very festive in these parts and the kids are very excited.  So too are we, though it's still weird passing through shops and bars with decorations and Christmas trees when you're in shorts and tee shirts.

So, Vientiane.  We stayed a couple of nights in a sexy hotel, found a good Indian. Did a bit of a walking tour which took us along Th Lan Xang, a street described as the Champs Elysees of Laos. Visited a bloody humongous Sunday market where we attempted some Christmas shopping.  Got told to put my camera away as we passed the U S Embassy,  I was pointing it at That Dam,  one of the towns oldest Buddhist stupas.  Bit of a Khmer vibe to that one actually.

Walked along the riverfront, not much river there at present though, where art thou Mekong?
It's just a really nice little town to spend a couple of days in. The end.

Now, we decided to try our luck with a night bus for the next leg of our journey, so we specifically booked a VIP bus which included a pickup from our hotel at 6pm to shuttle us to the big fancy bed on wheels. Actually, it didn't have bunks, they're not allowed on that stretch as the roads are too bendy. So, we're on this Nightbus and amazingly, tonight we have all the seats we've paid for, one each. This is a first, normally the kids get squeezed together into one seat if they're lucky, South East Asian transport companies always overbook by at least ten people. We're 5 minutes into the journey and a guy asks where the toilet is located. Unfortunately there isn't one because the coach dudes have piled all kinds of luggage, boxes, tables and crates in front of it. It's rammed down there and there's a rope thing tying the emergency exit shut. I start to feel for the German guy sat a few seats away from me, he's just coming to the end of another can of Beerlaos. That's gonna hurt in about half an hour! Oh, but here comes a man with a cake each for us all, something nice for us to munch on for the long journey. You can't take a piss when you want to but you can have a nice cakey wakey.
Oh and of course, as sure as eggs is eggs, at around 12.30 am, the plastic stools come out and are placed down the centre of the bus as another ten poor sods hop on to join us for the journey. Love em.
As the darkness began to lift at around 5.30, we were treated to some spectacular views of the mountains shrouded by fog. At 8 o'clock sharp, some thirteen hours after we'd left our hotel, we arrive in Luang Prabang Province. Soon be Christmas.

Location:S E ASIA