Laos-style momuments

Laos-style momuments
Originally uploaded by neal_mcquaid.

So, a slight change in plans.
After some honest discussions, it was obvious that it was going to be too awkward to go both Vietnam and Cambodia properly. So...after a bit of discussion, Sean had his heart on Halong Bay, and I just decided to head south with Dawid as it was less of a loop back to Thailand. It also didn't help that I wouldn't be able to climb at Halong Bay without any of my climbing gear so there was less of an incentive to visit!

So, after spending another day sitting in coffee shops (this time for proper caffiene reasons after all of us being up all night), and some brief looks around the local touristy sites, it was another bus journey overnight. Ouch, I think I'd better find my earplugs.......

With regards to Vieniane? it's tiny, with only a population of 200,000. Very small, and looking like it's trying to play catch-up after years of being tied into communism. They do, amusingly, have a replica Arc de Tromphe that was built out of money that was earmarked to build a new airport :) The wonders of corruption!
Other than that, it's pretty dead and didn't particularly mind not spending any time whatsoever there.

Roll on the 4,000 islands!