Vientaine

Just a quick update, as I can't be bothered writing anything entertaining.

I'm in Vientaine now, the capital of Laos. Vientaine is pronounced "Wieng Chan" and not "Vee-en-tee-ayn" as Emily and Rosie consistently say. I always, of course, correct them.

It's hot here, and wet (but only in the evening so far), and very relaxed. Laos is a sleepy country and this is a sleepy city of 120000 people. A lot more peaceful than Daegu's hoard of 2.5 million.

I've spent time sitting by the river, drinking juice, we visited some park with lot of crazy Buddha statues, and I feel much more relaxed already. The people in Laos all seem very friendly too.

Strangely, I've seen more Westerners here than I ever do in Daegu. Travellers from Thailand mostly. Some look like annoying white-dreadlocked hippy trash that I just want to set fire to, but the ones I've met have been fine. Except for some very odd Norwegian who thinks he's Buddha and that monks were trying to kidnap him.

Anyway, tomorrow we go to some place called something like Savanakhet, and then to some place with lots of water. I'm feeling very wealthy because it's very cheap here, so I can flash my dollars at the cheap trash and let them see what hard earned money looks like. It also means that I can pretend to do extravagant gestures, like buy everyone lunch, even when it only costs about £5 in total.

Anyway, I've written more than I intended, and now I'm going to drink some Lao beer, which is really very nice and a lot better than the pish sold in Korea.