I've not left Laos yet but I was so completely furious about what happened this morning that I feel I need to share this experience already. Laos is a big letdown. I can remember every single word from the conversation this morning and i'll fill you in (consider that this is the best hotel around recommended by the lonely planet!)

Maid - " Knock Knock" (on door)
Me - " Hold on just a sec".... I open the door
Me - " Hi!"
Maid - " You need get out, check out, we need room"
Me - "Sorry....what?!"
Maid - "Check out!"
Me - "Ummmm....Ok" (I pack my bags quickly and leave my room)



At this point i'm incredibly confused. In short I booked part of my backpacking holiday with a government trusted tourist information board and well in short they've messed up a little bit of my trip (mainly Laos) and i've had to fork out a bit more of my money to pay for this place until I start getting the room I paid for today till the 14th August. (it's complicated but I hope it's enough for now to slightly understand!). Just understand i've kept my cool throughout! ;p

I go downstairs towards reception half knowing what's going to happen! Queue the manager!

Manager - "You leave today...you checkout"
Me - "What!?!?...Why?" (Manager gives a confused look to his worker)
Me - "No check the paperwork....i've already paid for another 3 nights here through TAT....let me speak to jeffrey....I'd like to let him know what's on my mind right now!!"

Manager fumbles around for my reciept stating clearly that i've got 3 nights which have already been paid for!

Manager - "You don't leave today?"
Me - "No!.....If i'm honest I wouldn't be hanging around here against my own will..TAT have messed up my trip....i've paid MY MONEY to stay at your hotel...without any discount!!!"

At this point I'm asking for a discount...I've come to realise Lao businessmen are incredibly stingy...not all but most! I'm getting slightly emotional at this point....it's not been an easy ride in Laos...especially being stuck in boring. sleepy place which is Vientiane.

Me - "Look I'm a nice guy...you know this...i've caused no trouble...and you kick me out of my room when I explained to you 5 days ago how i'd be staying here the extra 3 PAID FOR days!!!"

AT this point i'm not interested in anything they've said....I didn't swear (only under my breath at most) and kept my cool throughout! The only good thing to come from this argument is that I met a really sweet south african teacher called kerry this morning and I was more than happy to oblige to her dilemma of where to go next.....and for the record she said it was a boring shitty place too! I think she also stopped me from losing my cool as well!

So how do I fare...am I a tosser or was I right??! It's times like these that make me proud to be british!

Ok so enough ranting...Laos...where do I begin!?!?

Like I said before it's a big letdown....what the hell is the lonely planet on about?!? Yeah sure they're shy for definite...but more so with the Lao women...I think they're sweet. The guys...that's a different story....they're generally not nice people. I've found that more so since being on your own. But I spoke to some nice chaps from leeds and they confirmed what I dreaded would be just my sole opinion.

Like myself they enjoyed the tubing....but they agreed what else is there to do!??!...Nothing that you can't already do in Thailand (slight bias there) and here comes lonely planet. They say that people come to Lao for the tubing mainly...in one place called Vang Vieng. But what i'm trying to comprehend is what else?!?! It's genuine frustration...you want to like Laos but at the same time you're struggling to find reasons why.

It has no personality and I feel partly to blame....I think they've just let the falangs (foreigners) take over which is a crying shame. Like I said to a vietnamese guy I met yesterday...it's a sleeping giant waiting to become awoken. He was an incredibly interesting guy too...he told me that Laos is getting it's very own stock exchange which should happen next year if time permits. I think that will be incredibly great to a place where the economy is growing slowly and hoping to blossom in the near future.

But on the other side of the coin....Laos is beautiful! The landscape is second to none...it's picture perfect! It's just stretches and stretches of hills, grass, trees and sky...AMAZING! Despite this, in the back of your mind, we cheated death on 3 incredibly dodgy bus rides (Land slide, bumpy roads...threat of being killed by armed "soldiers" (possibly but didn't quite get into that scenario...THANKFULLY!).

Also I'd say Laos people are pretty helpful....not too much...but when they're in the mood they'll happily give you directions and smile whenever you try some of their lingo! Another thing I feel I've let myself down on but I guess spending a month in Thailand and 10 days in Laos is slightly different.

Tubing was cool...I met such amazing people (Dutch, German, Irish, Scottish, Aussies, English, Canadian, Kiwi, Israeli, French etc (sorry if i've left out a few!)) and I had to use a bit of my swimming skills to stop myself from drowning after going on a river swing from the first bar we stopped off at.....I was shaking like a biatch at the top....it was fooking high!!! And also Alex saved me from wandering off to god knows where at some point (LEGEND!).

"Smoothe Criminal" (that's how I'll protect his identity!) has to be the best moment of Laos...let's just say he escaped the fuzz after a brief run in....and THE HAT!!! YOU RULE SMOOTHIE!!

Overall...it's been up and down...i feel i've been a bit more emotional about this one and i'd like to think maybe i'll remember Laos because of this!

Ax.

P.s - I'd love to get a bit of reaction on this one as it's pretty controversial and feel free to tell me if you want me to divulge more on Thailand!...it's pretty awesome!