Part XXVIII - Welcome to the jungle

Laos. Most bombed nation on the planet!

Vang Vieng is a nice little laid back town up in the mountains. I'm liking it a lot. I have a nice guesthouse called Pans Place which the Tao led me to. Quite literally actually, they had a yin yang on the gate which kind of pulled me in. Run by a kiwi guy and his Lao partner. They have the Osho tarot deck in the lounge for all to use and its a really nice deck. The place has an excellent homely atmosphere. I had an immensely satisfying game of chess, despite the fact that I lost. Neils bombardment at the start was intense and unrelenting, but my men's morale was high and it took him a long time to mop up the insurgency.

Over looking the town are some impressive limestone karst formations, a bit more solid and mountain like that the Krabi variety. There are some cool caves in there too. It gets really hot here during the day but cools off nicely in the evening. There are activities here like drunken pub crawl down the river by inner tube. It is nice being back in an area with topographic variation. Being on the flats just doesn't do it for me. Especially flats full of muddy water! By day there are bird calls everywhere, by night, the sound of crickets and other strange insects. They have something in places like Laos and Sumatra that Thailand has lost in its rampant development. The land is stronger here, has a stronger influence. Well, being mountainous its a lot harder to tame. Can't really argue with a mountain. Has a vibe not unlike New Zealand really, a certain closeness to the land. I think of Welly, surrounded by the green belt. Walk 5 mins from most parts and you can be in the bush.

The ride here by local bus was interesting. It was a patu old bus that could barely climb the hills. I was sitting next to a one eyed old man. We passed an army truck towing what looked like a world war 2 era artillery piece. There's a write up about a US attack in the Vietnam war in the area. 300 odd peasants were sheltering from the relentless bombing in a large cave. A US jet fighter fired 4 missiles at it and killed them all. The people are seemingly chilled out here though. The US has done this kind of thing to so many nations, it makes me wonder the percentage of the worlds population secretly harbouring anti-US sentiment. Well, they're starting to find that out now I guess... Hopefully they're not on my flight!

I watched the Da Vinci Code last night. It was rather amusing, cheesy as. The doco "the hidden history of Christ (I think)" I saw on Sky years ago that the book was based on was far more interesting. The movie was basically retelling it with 'intense' music and bad dialogue. Any righteous defenders of the movie out there?

I had every intention of going exploring today but this hasn't happened as yet. I'm sure there was something other than caffeine in my breakfast coffee which sort of trapped me in the cafe on the cushions out back. Was interesting though. Had a good chat with this Israeli chick who comes from the north where the Hezbollah rockets are falling. A good time to not be there. Its quite a luxury to come from a country with no borders to defend. No compulsory military training.

Hmm.. its raining now. No exploring for me today. At least its not so damn hot! I add some pics to this when I get better internet facilities.