goodbye laos hello hanoi

massive massive massive bus trip yesterday, 12 hrs yuck
in hanoi now, the most horn happy city in the world i swear. apparently they are just letting everyone know they are there... yeah i bet
its a bit cooler than everywhere else which is nice, all food so far as been wayyyyyyy better than laos our last night dinner in laos at border town lak sao was the worst meal iv ever had i think. wouldnt even feed it to the dog... conor one of the guys in my group ordered beef, it was more like jerkey you couldnt even chew it. so gross. taught one of our guides to say gross, best thing she says it with an aussie accent. very proud of myself haha :)
since Luang prabang we went to vang vieng, bout a 7 hr drive through mountains and hills, wouldnt recommend if you get car sick, really windy and hilly. vang vieng is the strangest town, no where near as pretty as luang prabang, but still cool. most of the restaurants are set up like the movies, all the tables have couches for chairs and face tv's, best bit is they ALL show re-runs of friends. cept for one that was family guy woo hoo. its a backpacker town, and next to the town is an island in the middle of the river, which has the most rickety bamboo bridges crossing to it, but the whole island has outside bars with djs and fires really cool. we went to one called 'the bucket bar' probably not a good idea haha our guide got sooo drunk had to carry her home haha. found out not only does she have a french man that she had already told us about, also has an english man hhahahah laughed so much. next day we went tubing so much fun i think the people that stay in vang vieng (some stay for months) just do this everyday. you get a tube, get a tuk tuk up to the top of the river then float down (it runs fast with rapids) so good. there are bars all the way along too, with massive flying foxes and swings that you drop into the water from. i was to pussy to do it though haha so high! got a good video of one of the girls on the swing though. will put pics up on facebook of tubing when i can find a fast internet connection. best day. got burnt though. next day drove to lak sao, another 4 hrs. worst town the restaurant we went to (with the crap food) is the only restaurant in the town, hence the name "only one restaurant" haha.

meet my new group 2moro, pretty excited. last night with my current group seeing water puppets its meant to be cool. new viet number +84947431866

sa ba di... cab chai la li

(hello... thankyou very much)

:D

second day in luang prabang, went and had a massage thisafternoon, we walked in and it had an arrow pointing left saying "blood donation", and an arrow right saying "massage"... we chose massage haha. 6 bucks for an hour... hardly cheap!!!

the whole town has a curfew of 12pm... its the law. another law is that you cannot take strangers back to your rooms, enforced by police!! lucky darcies not with me


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU CAN'T SLAP ME IN LAOS!

wandered round the royal palace now a museum (laos voted for democracy in 1970's so no more royals) it has a huge room that is covered from floor to ceiling with japanese glass mosaics showing traditional laos folk tales so the whole room sparkles. they should turn it into a club :)

talking of clubs, last night we walked past a tuk tuk driver and he goes "doof doof doof doof i take you to discotheque??" haha so good... he was an old lao man too.

safe flight 2moro george be good xoxoxo

(not so)lucky laos...

plugged my camera into a dodgy computer... its put a virus on my memory card, hopefully when i get back to aus i can recover the pics. atm on my camera it is saying there is nothing... 175 pics all gone. had some really good ones of the last few days.... :( GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

dont think iv posted since chiang mai, we got there on overnight train it was cool!!!
went to a MASSIVE night bazaar it had every kind of rip off you could imagine... couldnt resist a little bit of shopping :)
only stayed one night in chiang mai, we went up to see a temple on top of a massive mountain, views over the whole of chiang mai, pretty breathtaking. watched monks chant, learned about the hundreds of buddha positions... very cool. thepics on facebook of the big stairs is to get to the temple... i did it!!! you probably dont believe me haha....
after chiang mai headed up to chiang rai the most massive silver temple it was crazy. started being built 10 years ago, still going. couldnt help but laugh, inside it has a massive mural (couldnt take pics unfortunately) of all modern day temptations, had paintings of the matrix, star wars, pepsi van, converse haha also most life like sculpture of a monk, still believe it was real, its eyes followed me around the room. we were saying it would be a good prank if someone took the sculpture and sat there one day, then jumped up and scared people haha... spose you had to be there :)
then headed to chiang khong, much more relaxed town in thailand than all the rest. even chiang mai is like a city, has a big industrial side which we passed on the way to elephant riding. our guesthouse in chaing khong was right on the river bank, great view across into laos. wierd concept that just over a river is a different country. had good spicy fish for dinner, one of the other girls picked a meal of the menu that just said "lemongrass & garlic", it came and was dried pork covered in lemongrass, as well as about 50 chillies. honestly was like a fire in my mouth, all my tastebuds are gone haha.
only in chiang khong for one night, people of thailand so freaking patriotic, every building has a lifesize picture of the royals on it.. bit bizarre.
across the river/border yesterday morning, spent yesterday and today crusing down the mekong in a really long, traditional wooden boat. so cruisy, best couple of days. the river winds through heaps of mountains, with mostly rice and corn crops. there are villages dotted along the riverbanks every couple of k's. we stopped at one, the kids are so happy. there was one albino girl it was the strangest thing, it looked like she had just been left there by a traveller. its really sad she probably wont have a very long life, shes so white, and can hardly see. we left some sunglasses which made it a bit better for her.

all the kids want to do is look at the photos on your camera, had some great ones of them trying on my sunglasses, really hope i can recover them. they have nothing, its so different from how we live. its a bit surreal, not really sure what to think. the elders dont seem as happy as thekids for westerners to be coming into there village. felt a bit rude, especially taking photos. last night we stayed in pakbeng down really small, the town only have electricity from 6pm - 10.30pm run on generators... made for a very hot night. bloody rooster woke us all up at 4 in the morning as well... but banana pancakes for breakfast were good :)

today stopped and some caves, filled with over 40o0 buddha statues from hundreds of years ago. again lots of stairs to climb to get there :)

arrived in luang prabang thisarvo, real cruisy much more green and pretty. our guide said he thinks it is the prettiest village in laos. had a big night market (they seem to be everywhere inasia) the homewares are quite different patterns from thailand, i was expecting it to be really similar. have three nights in luang prabang, just bought laos sim my number is +856206448530.

XOXOXOXOOXOXXOXOXO
ps hope you had fun at the soccer ball em, well done carla on your job :D

grrrrrrrrr

SO ANGRY. MY CAMERA JUST GOT WIPED.

last day in bangkok

still hot!! went to chatachuck markets yesterday it would take you about a year to see everything there... its freakin massive. went by tuk tuk which is like a three wheel bike with a cart with seats on the back... runs on lawnmower fuel haha. paid 150baht (6 bucks) to get there (it was a 20 minute ride). we were stopped at some traffic lights at one stage and a bus came around the corner and nearly took us out - little bit frightening haha. Bangkok is huge! my kiwi roomate annette told me yesterday that it was voted the best city for 2008... were not quite convinced haha. its really strange, you look out your hotel window and you can see slums next to temples next to skyscrapers, its a city of extremes. i saw the pics of the soccer chicks you looked great!!!! hope your war paint led you to VICTORY. have an overnight 13hr train to chaing mai 2nite.. should be fun ha. apparently the food is dodgy so fingers crossed we dont get sick. but now im going to see some buddhas!!!
hope your all jealous xoxox

singapore-ing with rain

sleeping on tiger is v hard.. now have a sore neck
4am in singapore waiting to catch a plane to thailand where i can finally sleep yay
abbey=the biggest pussy
5 books in my bag=not a good idea
no jacket=good idea (hate to admit it mum)
K BYE

HA !

emma: last game on sunday
mia: is but
emma: it is
mia: be carin
emma: you are
mia: wanna know where il be on sunday
emma: where
mia: THAILAND YA SCROOGE
emma: are but
mia: actually will
emma: will but
mia: you do a bit
emma: do but
mia: be carin
emma: lets stop now