Vientiane and Vang Vieng

I spent two days sight seeing in Vientiane. It's the capital city of Laos, but still feels very small town. It's relaxed, modern and beautiful. I saw several temples my favourite being the first one which contains hundreds of buddhas. I also really liked the gold spire with the lotus leaves surrounding it. It's stunning. Google Laos and it will come up.

Travelling alone is super easy. I've met travel companions for every stage of my journey. I've run into some of the same people in different cities too. Laos is heavily travelled by backpackers many of which are travelling alone. So, meeting people is shockingly easy.

Vang Vieng is a different story. This is a backpackers hang out. It's a city with less locals than foreigners and has perhaps lost its soul in favour of the party atmosphere. The surrounding area is stunning though and striking. Plus, there is nothing wrong with the social atmosphere, it's just not a dosage of Laos culture is all.

There is one identical restaurant after another all with tv's playing Friends or Family Guy. However, there are a few really good eateries, and these are easy to find, just look for the places without tv's. I've eaten incredibly well actually. Tonight I had a full fish, Ping Paa, grilled and spiced to perfection. I've never eaten a fish with the head, fins and tail still attached. Another mini adventure.

There is one wretchedly skinny dog that I buy a beef shiskabobfor every day. There are several travellers that do this. Not sure how this dog is so skinny. All the other dogs here look great. But she has painfully swollen teats and looks like she could die at any second. She's very sweet and lets me hold the scewers while she munches on the meat.  She should be fat in no time.

Tomorrow I'm going kyaking and caving on a tour. I'm super excited to do somthing physical and get into the stunning surrounging areas. I'm afraid it won't be very private as there are multiple tour companies that do the same trip. But it'll be social and fun and I'll probably meet someone to do the next stage of my trip with. Good Times.

Lindsay