I felt that Laos wasn't as good as everyone bangs on about.

Yes, there are big mountains and hill tribes, but both Vietnam and Burma are better, and the food sucks ass.

There were so many schmucky backpackers causing grief there too - I'll explain: At the bottom of the food chain are the lager louts who visit Thailand on package tours and are too scared to travel independently. Next up are the more adventurous sort who go semi-independently but are still to concerned to stray away from Thailand. Then you get those a bit braver and want to get high on opium and brag to their mates about it – these are the sort who ‘do the route’ from Chang Mai in North East Thailand along the Mekong river in N.E. Laos. I was very surprised to meet so many of these wankers.

Let me point out one thing – I'm a backpacker too and I don’t think anyone should ever be denied the experience of traveling, but these idiots bounce around the country making fools of themselves. They have caused serious socioeconomic and societal problems by their demand of opium and underage prostitution. It used to be that only the elders ever smoked opium, and that never really caused problems (what’s the difference between a normal senile old granny rocking in the corner going “kids these days…” and a high-as-a-kite senile old granny rocking in the corner going “blue bananas made my hut become a butterfly…") but now local kids see backpackers their age getting high, and decide to have a go too – this leads to enormous addiction problems in Laos, which leads to higher crime and all the rest.

Where's the Photos?   No photos are here yet, and there wont be for a while as I need to scan the photos. Keep an eye on the What's New? section though for updates!

Annnnnyway, I concentrated on seeing the north of the country properly (and getting away from the well trodden wanker-route) but will have to return one day to see the south.