Love you LOA time... 16th Nov till now!

Well I am writing from the a delightful little city called Luang Prabang in Laos. I left Huay Xai a few days ago with a mate I made on the Gibbon Exp by the name of David (South African) and arrived in Vientiane 5 days ago. After our gibbon exp we had a chilled couple of days just hanging out in Huay Xai - as the only flight leaving the city went on the 16th. All I did in Huay Xai was walk, drink fruit shakes, read and chill out! Its weird how you just meet people when you travel and because you are in the same boat you just kind of get along. It was nice to not have to spend my time alone because boredom would have definitely sky rocketed - Huay xai has like a population of about 100! On the 16th we made our way from Huay Xai Airport. It was an experience...where else do you wait for your flight alongside rogue chickens, sipping on a beer underneath the shelter of a tin shack! I was a little worried about the aeroplance but the flight was fine - just an hr, and Dave was hotfooting it onto another flight to Vietnam from there. I was scheduled to stay in Vientiane for 2 nights but left after the first, as I am a little sick of cities! I also landed up staying in a super dodgy hotel - you know its bad when you take your valuables into the shower with you..Just in case..
I wanted to be in the outdoors - swimming etc so thought I would just make my way further along to Vang Viene - a little city famed for its partying culture and also some pretty incredible sights. Its basically the party capital of Lao - and the major attraction is the "tubing". This involves taking an inner tube and floating down the river and stopping off at the several crazy bars they have dotted along the river. Its an absolute den of eniquity - hence why I thought I must visit :)
I arrived early eve and checked into a cool backpackers - its all open plan, tented and bamboo hut type dormitories.
Well I certainly did the tubing - which involved alot of drinking, but I also did just about every slide/jump/zipline etc along the way which was super fun. One of my favorites was one called the big blob - which is a huge inflated cushion in the water. You have to have 2 people to participate...so person 1 jumps off a pretty high ledge and starfishes onto the cushion (which is wet and slippery, and actually quite damn hard!). Person 1 then precariously balances on top of the cushion, whilst person 2 then jumps onto the cushion - its a massive catapult effect and person 1 gets flung (in not very lady like manner) metres high then into the water. It was hysterical, of course considering we were quite drunk by this stage - I must have just looked like such a twat jumping gingerly off in starfish position then bouncing straight off each time..I had about 3 FAILS before we got it right! Eventually we got it, and I flew through the air "gracefully" whilst everyone applauded...
Its all a bit crazy with all the slides and things, and there are actually quite a few fatalities every year - people just getting too drunk, having accidents and drowning. The flow of the river is quite fast too and I can imagine that people who arent strong swimmers can definitely get caught out. Anyway - as you bob down the river the various bars have people throwing ropes out to you to draw you in. It was a good laugh but to be honest I think the beautiful setting is kind of spoilt by very much "in your face" hedonism. Oh and the place is also riddled with drugs - you get offered a free joint when you buy a bucket - yes you buy BUCKETS of drinks at a time... The place is packed with mostly early twentiesh type folks who are just here purely to party. I spent 3 nights there - did the tubing once, and the other day I did a kayaking/caving trip. Saw some awesome caves and kayaked in some beautiful scenery. I had my fill of partying though and I was pretty much in bed every night before 1am! I have learnt since travelling that having too much of a hangover just kind of spoils the next day - so I didnt go completely nuts! My last night was probably the funnest - and just did a bit of a bar hop and landed up in a fun place dancing like a crazy person.. when I realised I was doing the "one eye closed" thing to focus on who I was speaking to, I decided to call it a night.. I had to be up pretty early this morning..5:40am to be exact! I did a fantastic thing - I got a hot air balloon and floated about the mountains watching the sunrise at 6am! What a sight - the mountains and scenery was just breathtaking... Now I can tick Hot Air Ballooning off my action/bucket list. The ride was about 45 mins and it was beautiful. I must have looked a state though, as I literally went in my pajama's.. I woke up late!
After finishing that I then had to get all my belongings together and get the bus ride from hell to the next city - where I am now - Luang Prabang. I wasnt feeling great - and we packed into a rickety mini van and set off - for the 6 hour journey through the mountains. A very very winding road which meanders through some pretty amazing scenery. Our driver was hell bent on scaring the shit out of all passengers and took every opportunity to swerve dangerously at potholes, overtake cars on blind rises and literally skid around every bend. There were skid sounds every time we did a bend. Not mild skids, loud gut wrenching ones, made more dramatic by the 200-300 metre sheer cliffs on the side of the road. Unfortunately I was unable to appreciate any of the scenery as I was going between praying for my life and focusing really hard (at times using breathing techniques)to will myself out of feeling like I was going to projectile vomit all over the drivers head. It was probably the worst car trip I have ever done. I was horribly ill and the bendy 6 hr road just made it about 300 times more agonising. I have however arrived safely - its a miracle - and am again staying at a rather cheery backpackers. Tomorrow I am hiring a bicycle and going to go for a ride into the rural areas, go see some waterfalls and have a nice swim! I met a lovely local chap and was invited to have some tea with him - Lao people seem so friendly. He gave me some pointers on where to go to get off the tourist beat, plus we also chatted about Lao Culture and religion. When you been in a place for a few days you get intrigued by things, and it was nice to have someone tell more about the place and also about buddhism practices which I am fascinated with.
I am here for 2 nights then I am taking a 2 day slow boat up the Mekong river to another village, where I will spend a night. A little worried about the accomodation there as I met a girl tonight who literally had been eating alive from bed bugs. GROSS. I then go further up river the following day where I will cross the border and come back into Thailand. I then head via flight down south to some beaches! Woohoo!
This is Gypsy Regdelp - signing out.