ideas for cheap stuff

Sabadee(that is by far our favourite Hello as everyone says it here about a million times a day too each other-thats how friendly they are)

Hope u have all recovered from ur Chrimbo celebrations of far too much drinking and eating and our ready for second rounds on New Years Eve night.We are sending early Happy New Year Greetings as we will not see a computer for about 3days as we are venturing into the jungle for New Years.Yes this New Years will be strenuous and I dont mean because of the lifting of beer bottles every five seconds but because we will be doing trekking for several hrs, then mountain biking for some more pain and finally mounting a Elephant for 1hr 30mins to bring us to a waterfall.At night time we are staying at local villages so god love the villagers on New Years Eve night when 3Irish girls are set loose around the camp fire with beer and whiskey(lao lao whiskey is so strong).But as we have observed over the last week the locals like the Irish girls know how to drink.We cant get too wasted though cos the next day we have to Kayak back for 4hrs but it looks like it may take longer with us hungover.

So what have we been up to since we arrived here last week.Really we werent meant to stay for so long but this little town is so quaint with its main st clustered wit restaurants n bars and the night market its just too hard to leave, mainly cos the people are unbelivably friendly.The Lao people also believe in not working to hard as Lonely Planet mentions Vietnam plant the rice, the Cambodians watch it grow and the Lao people listen to it.So that kinda shows their laid back work ethic which has rubbed off on me and Dee cos we ve been really lazy with putting up posts.Sorry.

Christmas Eve

An example of their friendliness is when me and Dee indulged in some Christmas Eve exercise by renting mountain bikes(2dollar for a day),(this was to make us feel less guilty when we over ate and over drank that night)and we stumbled upon a wedding full of 2villages blocking the entire st.The locals welcomed us in by handing us drink and food asking us to join them.This we accepted on our way back but couldnt only stay for 10mins as we were meeting Tee.Our fellow Irish cailin Naomi who was with us on the Mountain bikes stayed for over 45mins and got locked with the locals.Gord(a Carpenter from Canada)was also accompanying us and was pretty much impressing us with his mountain bike skills.Hes been doin if for years,was bringin us down some dodgy dirt tracks.At one stage we went down over pretty big rocks,how we didnt break our necks im not sure.Everywhere we went we were greeted with Sabadee from not just the kids but also the adults, we havent received so much hospitality since Cambodia.

Christmas Eve make over

As Tee already mentioned we got our hair cut and it only cost 3.5 dollar.It was the best hair wash we ve ever got cos the massage ur head for about 20mins, we were in heaven.But the only thing was they took ages.I mean they literally got only 4strands of hair at a time to straighten.They also cracked up at Dee when she had asked to get her hair straightened with the Ghd although she had it blowed dried straight.They dont understand that we have our hair really flat, they arent into Ghd here as they have perfect straight hair.(Feck).We were so late arriving at Lao Lao gardens but so was everyone else thank god.As Tee has already said the Christmas Eve party with all the other backpackers was brill.The place was so beutiful with its fairy lights and also their fairy cute waiters.Mark the owner kept his word by reserving us the big table(mainly because I attacked him the night before by ordering him around and telling him that I was bringing lots of people and that we were goin to make him lots of money.And we kept our word he took in 4times as much as last year-God we drink alot).The end of the night is a bit hazy for everyone I think but we all had a great time indulging in some very bad singin of Christmas songs and childish kissing games.

Christmas Day

As Tee said we just laughed all day.Its true.After dinner me and Dee got back into bed with a bottle of wine and stuffing our faces with Choccy(choccy which Tee carried for us all the way from Vietnam cos we didnt have space in our bag.There is a bit of shortage of Mnms here so had to get them aswell as the classic Danish biscuits.It wouldnt of been Christmas without them.)Dee I think thats the best idea we ve ever had.Over 18dollars worth of goodies.

Later that night me and Dee headed to a Lao disco.Luan one of the workers from our guesthouse came with us.Such a laugh.It felt like being at a school disco.I swear to god I think there were 12yr olds there.Me and Dee felt like models as we were towering over them.The place was like a huge hall with a dance floor in the middle and nicely decorated with Tinsel etc.As we walked in a rock band was playing and we thought cool.But then all of a sudden the rock band goes off and 2boys and 2girls come out wearing something Boyzone wore in their videos doing some really bad dancing to bad pop songs.Very funny.Me and Dee were cracking up.Even funnier when a Lao boy came over and wanted to sit with us so we said yeh.I asked his name and he said Odd(yes u heard correctl)I was goin to be cruel and reply with my name is Ball but I thought no that would be too mean.Any way Odd lived up to his name as later he brought me to his friend paraded me infront of them pretending that I was his girlfriend.His friends were shocked that Odd could actually score let alone a Western girl.Shortly after that I got rid of him as he was gettin too friendly by asking was I Free,whatever that means.I also lied and told him I had a boyfriend but he didnt care about that.Very funny.The Lao men are actually quite tall and are probably the cutest out of South East Asia.Modelling agencies really should set up shop here cos there is plenty of talent here.

St.Stephens Day

Vegged all day.We had planned either the waterfall or a game of Christmas footy with the locals.But that didnt happen.And footy still hasnt happened thats how lazy we ve become.Did some eating and not much drinking as my tummy was a bit worst for ware.(after the Disco I got sick but not from alcohol but there is a bit of a tummy bug going around)Though we did manage to get up and go to Le Cinema which is a dvd store with private roooms to watch movies.Its so cosy here with all the cushions on the ground.Garden State is what we watched,definitely recommend it.Bit quirky but good.

Tuesday-27th more vegging by spending pretty much the whole day in bed as I was still feeling unwell.The girls supported me by veggig with me.Watched some tv.The only thing that got us to leave the room was food.We love the Scandinavian Bakery where we have gotten breaky the last 6Days.Proper baguettes like the ones from the Spar with proper Cheddar cheese not like the laughin cow cheese we ate in Cambodia.Yummy.

Wed -28th

Most productive day since Christmas Eve.Finally made it too the waterfall.This was well worth it especially since it was a roasting day.Though it was pricey to get ther, 12 dollar in a tuk tuk.Here they had bears and a 5month old tiger that had been rescued from the hunters.So cute.And the waterfall is the most beutiful we ve seen so far.Immediately we got changed into our bikinis and ventured into the water.However the current was so strong from the main waterfall that Dee and Tee advised me not to get in.(I still having quit managed the art of swimming)Thank god I didnt though cos the girls found it even hard to get pass the strong current so instead rested by the rocks. But further down there was a smaller kind pond where the water was lovely and turqoisey but still quit cold.When I go swimming with the girls I always send them in first to see how deep the water is, then I follow.The water was lovely though a bit rocky so I tempted to improve my techniques.The girls are great cos they show me what I should do but trying to get my arms and legs to do the cycling move under water otherwise none as floating is difficult.My bum just drags me down.Well done to the girls though as they jumped off a ledge and plunged into really deep water.Pretty Impressive.The 3 of us also tempted to kick around a type of badminton shuttle cock.But couldnt quite keep it goin after 3hits.We ve seen kids playing this all over Cambodia and Vietnam but we just cant do it.

Thur 29th

Another scorcher of a day aswell as another lazy one.Though we did manage to clime the 290 steps up to the Temple on Phoussi Mountain to see Sunrise.It was so stunnig but too many people here to make it any way romantic.Plus the 100s of ants clambering around made us not stay too long.

Any way gotta go pack for our 3day trek.Im really looking forward to the Elephant riding.Hopefully I get a small one who doesnt try to kill me.Happy New Years to all of you.Have a great time and hope u all get lots of Kisses.I probably only get to kiss my elephants as it looks like its only the 3of us on the trek.Ah well.
Love Lids