Currently parked in Vientiane awaiting our exhorbitant Vietnamese visa. Luckily there is an end-of-monsoon festival happening at the moment so there is plenty going on (although the monsoon seems not to have realised that it has ended – it rained all morning). I think we will miss the dragon boat racing that is the culmination of the festival, but we saw them out training at sunset today – they are incredibly long – about 40 paddlers by my estimate with at least 5 freeloaders standing up throughout the boat.

Luckily for us we haven’t missed the Lao pop blasting from the riverside discos nor the various barbequed delights on offer – crickets, duck embryos and various other unidentifiable treats!!!

Vientiane is a very chilled out place – lots of cafes and bars, and barely any traffic to speak of (a little like Adelaide perhaps??). It is quite a pleasant space to hang out in although we weren’t anticipating staying as long as we now have to because of our visa.

Tomorrow we are hiring a motorbike and heading out into the surrounding countryside on a bit of an epic trip – hopefully we will be able to reach the places we are aiming for although several local’s have expressed their skepticism.