Functioning with sleep deprivation

It is now 7:30am i have been out every night for the last 3 nights and then last night i was in a bus from 7pm till 4:30 this morning since 4:30 till 7:30 i have played on the internet and generally wandered around ko san road in Bangkok.... and that is as far as i got on that post before getting distracted by i can't even remember what.


That was i think the 19th, it is now the 27 October and i am in Luam Prabang in Laos a gentle reminder from Aunty Di has guilted me into updateing this blog which i once again had forgotten i had got so far behind on.

The Tuk Tuk drivers humor; these things are a motorbike that have two wheels and a bench seat welded to the back of them

I spent a couple of days in Bangkok sorting a Vietnam visa and not doing much else.  Of special note was the trip to pick up my Visa approx 5km from door to door, about 20 mins into the first taxi ride the driver finally admitted that having moved about 500m there was no hope of him moving and to get out and walk for a bit so with a couple of american girls i had shared the taxi with we walked about 400m to get past the intersection where inexplicably the lights had remained red for the last 20 mins.  Unlike back home where we would have seen everybody just going through the red light the Thais just sat and waited they are an incredibly patient people.  So having got past the intersection we found another taxi who suggested there was no point trying to get to the centre of town by road so instead took us back out of town to the sky train station (about 15km in the opposite direction to where i wanted to go but should have been a faster solution to get where i was going).  The sky train is touted as Bangkok's answer to the traffic jams "quiet, air conditioned, and always reliable" said the guide book.  Well it turns out it is all those things normally but on this day we got on to be told that there was a five minute delay which was repaeated every five minutes for the next half an hour.  Then we took off for five minutes to the next stop for a five minute delay which was repeated again a few times.  In the end I made it to the embassy about 10 mins before closing so i could make a train out of bangkok that night with one of my mates from southern thailand.  So that 5km trip took me approx 4.5 hours. The joys of Bangkok traffic my only other alternative would have been to take a motorbike taxi which has been described as Bangkok's answer to extreme sports it can be summed up by the fact that the driver wears a helmet but the passenger doesn't.



The overnight train up to Laos was a bit of an experience with a bunch of Europeans who were studying in Bangkok in the bunks next to us starting a party which we finished about 3 in the morning. So a little tired we finally arrived in a place called Vang Vieng the next day it is one of the more beautiful settings around, nestled in a little river valley with huge Karst cliffs overlooking the town.

Looking up the river to Vang Vieng

Known as a backpacker hang out the place is known for two things first the cafes that play the tv show friends on a never ending  loop meaning that breakfast often lasts for a couple of hours and secondly it is known for tubing.

Most people i know have jumped in a inner tube and floated down a river but this was something else; it is really just a huge party with a theme being the river.  Everybody hires an inner tube for the day then gets transported to the top of the river where about twenty bars have been set up with swings and slides and diving platforms etc.  When you are bored of the first bar you jump in the river and float down to the next bar where they throw a rope out to you and pull you into the bar.  The undoubted highlights were the giant swings and once i can get photos uploaded i will show you the results of the mud volleyball (that what its called but really it degenerated into more of a mud wrestling event).

 Following a bit of mud on the tubing

On leaving the last bar you have to float down river for about 45 mins to the town where you started.  Of course having been partying you always end up leaving too late so you a floating down a pitch black river with no idea how far away the get out point is or what it looks like.   The whole thing was so much fun that i did it twice.  Oh yeah and in some of the photos you may see that we went a bit crazy with the body paint (or maybe it was house paint they don't focus too much on health and safety over here). 

 The paint bit (three days later some it still hasn't come off so i am pretty certain that it wasn't body paint)

Following on from the Tubing everybody continues the party late into the night.   Meaning that the next days 6hr bus ride to Luang Prabang seemed like a really long way.  But I'll save that for the next post.  Needless to say though the 12 mid night police curfew here is appreciated by my body that was starting to tell me that i'm too old to be partying every night.  Hope that everybody back home is well Bryce