Hiya all, or should I say Sabadee,
Just a brief update. I spent a few days in Bangkok getting over the flight, adjusting to the climate (approx. 33deg and 90% humidity) and trying to saturate myself in South East Asia. I couldn't decide whether to go to north Thailand or straight to Laos so I went to the train station and let them decide. So, I'm now in Laos. I took a train in the cheap seats carriage which was quite hard going, approx. 12 hours. I arrived in Nong Khai about 4 am with no sleep. I walked from the train station to friendship bridge on the Mekong about 1 mile. I got a local bus across the Mekong into Laos.
Spent a bit of time in Vientiane, which is the capitol, being offered marijuana and heroin. I'm now in Vang Vieng, which was one of my favorite places in S.E.Asia. I didn't recognise it. It's full on tourism bullshit, full of 'hippy for a week' types. Whiskey addled backpackers. Happy pizzas (dope pizza), opium tea, pre rolled grass joints, bags of dope etc, all on the menu at many bars and restuarants. Thankfully, the countryside is still as stunning as ever. The mountains are cartoon-like. They're like something out of a Dr Zeus book. The villages are idyllic. I've been mooching around in the jungle and have found some primo wild camping sites. Thankfully, I've got me a DD hammock so I'm going to be off the ground as when I was climbing up the side of a jungle mountain the other day I came across a massive black scorpion. I knew it wasn't too toxic as it had big powerful pincers ( a sign of weak venom). it was the length of my hand from wrist to the tip of my middle finger. I took a photo of it with my hand next to it for comparison. It's called the Laos black forest scorpion. It's the largest species of Scorpion.
Speechless.
