Arduous Journeying?!

Right, incredibly annoyed at the moment, as we've just spent over an hour writing a post and the stupid computer decided to delete it for no flaming reason at all, so we've now got to try and remember what we wrote before and write it all again! So this version may be a bit briefer than normal as we're working against the clock and actually want to do other things than sit in an internet cafe for hours today!

SUNDAY 29th April

After blogging to you all on Sunday it was absolutely hammering it down with rain and within seconds of having got back on our bikes we were soaked through! Steve spotted a nice little cafe, so we pulled over sharpish and dashed inside. The food was really lovely, but it was also a tad expensive. We sat in the cafe for ages waiting for the rain to ease off and we were eventually able to leave. We had a little explore of Luang Prabang on our bikes and decided to stop off for a massage. We were trying to find a place called Mekong Massage, but ended up somewhere else. To me, the massage place seemed a bit run-down and unprofessional, but Steve was happy to give it a go, so we asked for 2 all over body massages. We went upstairs and at this point I chickened out of the massage, as I didn't fancy laying around in only my knickers, so I opted for a foot massage instead - which I'm very glad about as my masseuse was more of a torturer! It was one of the most agonising processes I've ever had to endure and it took all the strength I had to not scream in pain! So I'm quite glad the pain was restricted to my feet and lower legs. But at the end she did a 'mini massage' on my head, shoulders and upper back and it felt as though she was going to break my collar bone and make me pass out when she started thumping my back with all her might! Steve was having a lovely time next to me and even almost fell asleep - I think he got a bit of a shock when the woman started massaging his buttocks though! So after an hour we left the massage place - Steve feeling refreshed and relaxed, whilst I felt bruised and battered! We went back to the hotel, as we didn't want to be late for the cooking class. It was a bit disappointing in the end, we'd expected there to be separate stations for each of us and to be able to prepare and cook each dish ourselves. However, it was more of a group cooking experience and our part consisted mainly of watching the 'teacher' and his assistants rather than doing much ourselves. The food we cooked was Lap (minced meat with lime and chili's etc), curry, spring rolls and a peanut sauce for the spring rolls. The 'teacher' also demonstrated how to make a papaya salad. The food was nice though, although the Lap and papaya salad were far too spicy for me!

MONDAY 30th April

I can't believe that I actually managed it (and I'm even shocked Steve managed it first), but we were up by 05.30 this morning, so that we could go and watch the monks collecting alms. Nok took us to get some sticky rice, which a few of us bought to give to the monks as they came past. I wasn't very good at dividing it up, as we were only half way through the line of monks by the time I ran out of rice! It was quite odd seeing people living in this way still, especially as we've seen so many monks wandering around listening to I-pods and taking photos with digital cameras etc! After this we walked around the fresh produce market - we saw some mighty weird things - huge slabs of meat out in the sun covered in flies, live frogs pinned together to keep them from jumping away so they then had broken and bloody legs, ox tails and ducklings in tiny cages not big enough for 1 let alone the 4 of them squashed inside etc! There was also tons of fresh fruit and vegetables and rice etc. After wandering around we made our way back to the hotel and saw ridiculously overladen motorbikes, speaking of which, Steve and I saw one the other day with a family of 5 on, plus a bag of shopping! Once back at the hotel, we had a shower, breakfast and packed up before getting all of our gear on the bus to get to Vang Vieng. The journey was pretty long, and unfortunately one of our number came down with a sickness bug on the way, but other than that nothing eventful occurred, except for the beautiful scenery - which got more and more amazing as we approached Vang Vieng and entered limestone karst country! The guesthouse was pretty basic and the town itself is nothing amazing, so Steve and I were glad to be staying only one night. Once we arrived and were assigned rooms, we were able to head out and grab some lunch. We ate with some of the group, but then broke off on our own and had a wander around Vang Vieng. I got some nice baggy 3/4 length trousers to keep cool in. We decided to head towards the Namsong and cross over the river (which we had to pay to do - and realised half way across we could have waded through the river for free) to get to some caves. We finally got to the pay-point for the caves and thought we were at the entrance, but after another 10 minutes of walking, we realised we had to walk part-way up the mountain to get access to the cave! We needed to be back for dinner though and torrential rain was heading our way, so we decided to go back to the hostel instead. We made it back in time for dinner and without getting drenched!

TUESDAY 1st May

We had a free morning to do what we wanted. So Steve and I decided to head back to the banks of the Namsong to relax for a couple of hours after breakfast. We ended up bumping into some people from the tour and made ourselves comfortable in some riverside 'huts' with a nice cool drink. We ended up chatting, skimming stones, paddling and watching the local children playing in the river for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing and the scenery so beautiful! The river was crystal clear and we had an unobstructed view of the beautiful lushly green mountains it was awesome! Although the sun was beating down, we managed to stay cool in the shade of the huts. After a couple of hours we headed off to have some lunch, we stopped at a cafe the others were raving about from yesterday - but Steve and I didn't understand what all the fuss was about! Afterwards we had to get our stuff together, so that we could load the minibus back up and get to Vientiane. It wasn't too long a journey, but it was along another windy mountain road (although not as bad as that death trap of a 'road' we drove along in America). We were soon in Vientiane and getting settled into our rather nice hotel and Nok took us to a really nice restaurant for dinner.

WEDNESDAY 2nd May

After breakfast Nok showed us where we could get US dollars from and Vietnamese Dong and pointed out the morning market (which incidentally is open until 16.30?!). She left us to our own devices and Steve and I struck out on our own. We wandered around the market and managed to get a couple of cotton tops to wear, as we're having to change our tops at least every day as it's just so hot and t-shirts are far too clingy to wear in this humid weather! After our wandering and spending we went and got some more US dollars on our way to see the Laos version of the Arch de Triumphe. It's not particularly spectacular, as it's really just a lump of concrete - which was donated by the US so an airport strip could be built, so the ex patriot's refer to it as the vertical runway. The arch isn't finished, which is a shame, as the inside of it is stunningly decorated with glazed tiles etc, so we imagine if it was finished that it would be fairly beautiful. After seeing the arch we went to find some lunch and ended up bumping into people from the tour again and so we went and had lunch at a pizzeria together. Then we came and blogged and now there's not much of the afternoon left (as I've blogged twice in a row now), we're not sure we'll do much else, although we do need to find more suntan lotion and we desperately need showers too - I don't think we've ever been so clean, as we're showering at least twice a day!

Andie - glad you're keeping up with the blog and enjoying it. It must be pretty good if we've almost convinced you to live from a backpack for 4 months, although I'm not surprised we've totally convinced you! Good news with the PhD stuff, loads of luck, let us know how it goes.

Mum (= Pauline) - Glad the gardening is coming along well, looking forward to seeing it all finished - you could throw us a garden party when we get back! Still enjoying the posts, they make us smile every time! Visting the locals was really good, but we didn't get to speak to them at all, our guide just showed us around. But it is cool having someone there who has a detailed knowledge of the things and places etc we visit. Got a postcard to send from Roger today and also got a photo of him!

Dad (= Charlie) - glad you're having fun with your pick-axe, although it sounds like no-one else is! Thanks for the clarification on the origins of the comments, I'm not sure I would have worked it out otherwise! It certainly made us giggle! Steve's glad you're depriving mum of pear pie - keep up the good work! By the way, the Duncombe family dictionary online (patent pending) is fantastic! Also good news about the surprise at work - bet it was unexpected but a surprise!

Well, that's it for now folks. We've got a couple of days of hectic travelling ahead of us, so we probably won't be able to post again until we're in Hanoi, which we reach on Friday 4th. Hope you're all well and not getting too bored by our insanely long posts! Still missing you all and looking forward to seeing you in another 3.5 months!