A very lazy day.

Only rolled out into the street at about 10am and had a late breakfast at one of the local resturants in our street. Very good noodle soup and pork and basil. Some visits to the Wats in the area followed by relaxing afternoon doing nothing.

This evening we visited another Pii Mai party, this time sponsored by Spy, the dreadful wine cooler sold here (Leigh managed to drink one - I held out for a beer). Then a bit more Pii Mai watching and back to our guest house.

We have changed out plans a bit and tomorrow we head back to Thailand, only to Nong Khai so are aren't going to rush out of bed. From there we plan to follow the Mekhong's western bank as far as we can before out 14 day visa runs out and then cross back into Laos to head down to 4000 Islands. We might have to involve a bus at some point if we aren't making good enough progress.

The reason for our change of plan is that we don't see much point in tackling the apparantly boring east bank of the Mekhong for 700 kms when the west bank seems to get much better reviews. Besides, we have struggled to match the reality of much of Laos outside of Vientiane with our expectations. Hopefully the Issan won't let us down.

The decision to spend 3 days of Pii Mai in Vientiane was a good one. Much of Laos is shutdown, including much of Vientiane, but in the city there has still been sufficient opportunity to find decent food etc that might have been more difficult in the country. The vibe in the Mixay area of Vientiane has been fantastic. After all the partying (with enormous amounts of alcohol being consumed) the hordes have had such a great attitude with not a single suggestion of violent behaviour and I could count the number of grumpy face I have seen on the fingers of one hand. The revellers have been so well behaved and seem very careful not involve anyone in the celebrating who isn't in the appropriate mood. A great example of how a city can party.