the bus journey to Vientiane was very easy and so was the night bus to Pakse. I managed to find a room and some breakfast noodle soup. The town is not particularly pretty but I enjoyed walking around and being stopped by at least 10 monks who asked me a lot of questions to practice their english. They were very good at asking questions like 'where are you from?', 'when did you arrive?' And 'what is your name?' However when I tried to ask them a question they found answering a little tricky. I spoke for quite a while with a monk who was studying IT and had been a monk for 5 years with two years to go. As he was showing me the temple I spotted some of his mates having a sneaky cigarette at the back, he also told me that if a Laos boy does not become a monk for a certain amount of time he is not considered 'ripe'.
I walked along the Mekong and found a huge local market. I have spent some time talking to a Belgian girl who lives and works near Pakse. She is a project manager at an eco school and has even learnt to speak some Laos. Apparently the Laos people are very direct but you aren't allowed to confront anyone in front of their peers because it makes them lose face.
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| Sunset in Vientiane |
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| Everything is possibly in asia! |
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| Monks chilling round the back |
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