Beer, Bowling and Boating

After a very long and eventful bus ride (which included much spewing from locals...and a reverse park at the bus station straight into a Landrover) we finally made it to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. For a capital, there wasn't exactly a lot on offer for tourists except for overpriced dingy accommodation and so-so food.

On the bus, we re-united with our Aussie friends, Anna and Jules who we have traveled on and off with since Sapa, Vietnam. Along with a new recruit, Andy from England, we hit the town which included the Lao Bowling centre and the infamous Beer Lao factory. Bowling was great, despite my very obvious lack of skills...i miss bumper bowling.

Our visit to the Beer Lao factory was a much anticipated affair. We hired a tuk tuk and headed out of town only to discover that tours were randomly cancelled for today...mmm...what to do? Drink of course! I think the tour was meant to include a free "taste" of Beer Lao...we interpreted that as "as much Beer Lao as you can possibly scam before the tuk tuk driver dragged us back into town". Despite the lack of tour, it turned into a great day.

We also did the obligatory tourist trail which included many a Wat and the Patuxai (pictured). Hats off to the Lao people for this one - the US donated cement to Lao in the 1960s to build a new airport...they said, 'thanks, but I think we will build our version of the Arc de Triomphe.' Pretty good views of the city from the top (though I think its French cousin trumps it on this point).



After Vientiane, we decided to head a little more rural and convinced Anna and Jules to come on a homestay with us. First we headed to Ban Khoun Kham, a small town in the beautiful Hin Bun Valley. The scenery on the drive there was incredible. We stayed for one night and then travelled to the main attraction in this area, Tham Kong Lo - a 6.5km cave which runs through a massive limestone mountain. We took a 3 hour return boat trip through this enormous cave (at times it was almost 100m wide and high) which was pretty incredible.

That night we did a homestay in Ban Kong Lo, a small village about 1km from the cave. Despite our Lao language skills extending to "hello", "thank you" and "tasty" and their absence of any english, it was a really good experience and the family we stayed with was lovely. They were absolutely fascinated by Brendan's dreadlocks and loved the photos we showed them from our trip. They cooked us dinner and we had the best fried rice in a long time and lots and lots of sticky rice. Lights out came at 7:30pm, which made sense when the roosters woke us up at the charming hour of 4:30am. We weren't really sure what to expect from a homestay, but we really enjoyed ourselves and would recommend doing it (for a night or two...after that you might need a guesthouse with a hot shower and a bed).

We are still making our way south in Laos and made it to Savannakhet yesterday. Happy December everyone - where has this year gone? Until next time...

//Kate