~laos/luang_prabang/sore/bum

Ok, second day in Laos. (pronounced "Lao" btw, the French named it incorrectly when they nationalised it way back). (and definately not pronounced "Lice", mum!). Last night at our guesthouse was not great. There was a power cut in the middle of the night, and our ceiling fans turned off, which is bad news in this heat. Also meant that there was only cold water for the shower. We were woken up, not only by the heat, but by the silversmith directly under our hotel at 6am. From 6am for hours there was constant banging of something hard against something else hard! Not just one set of banging, but 3 completely independant sets of banging, all different pitches! The result was something resembling a very amateur production of Stomp...

So we decided that our $7 (or 4 hundred million billion Laos Kip) a night each was not well spent, so we found another place for $1 a night each! Bargain! Although much lower standard, it is overlooking the Mekong river, and we get free bananas as part of the service! Rock on! Living the dream! :)

Sara and I also rented out bicycles today for $1 each. We were sick of the foreigners, lovely as they are, and most seemingly from Israel (???), we rode off out of Luang Prabang for as far as our legs could take us. In the heat, we sweated more than a fat, hairy Persian exercising in the sun!! Oh wait, that is me!! Haha.... Sara somehow managed to get the good bike, i.e. the one that had a seat that didnt bruise your sensitive bits, pedals that were bent at an angle, and handles that didnt dig into your hands!

We had dinner with a family who were selling noddles on the side of the road out of the main town area. We had second servings, and Sara bravely tried the desert, and all coming to a total cost of about 30 pence! Again, living the dream!

Lao people are so lovely and hospitable, not only because they want your money, but because they are just nice people. Everyone says hello to you as you pass...... normally followed by the words "suki suki, fie dolla", but still, they are lovely!
(from a South Park episode, sorry)

So now we are "blogging", which seems to be an integral part of our days. When Sara utters the words "Steve. We need to blog", i know it is my job to get her to an internet terminal quick or smoke starts coming out of her ears and people die! Only kidding, we are having a great time...

Tomorrows plan: to get up early, get a tuk tuk to the waterfalls, and swim and bathe until our fingers go all wrinkly... cannot wait! (Taking tonnes of photos, onto my second film already. Wish i could upload them, but i guess you'll have to wait til i get back to see them all). As saturday draws to a close, this is Mr Bellamy, signing out. Ciao!