A lazy Sunday is on the agenda after over a week of heavy duty travelling and two lazy days of riverboat life with a mixed group of ages and nationalities.

The hotel has a very nice breakfast, we leave some washing to be done, issue some requests to our front desk regarding oil on the squeaky bathroom door, extra pillows and some milk for The Navigators cups of tea. She needs her tea before retiring at night and when she arises, otherwise…… things aren’t good!

We wander down a small ally towards the Mekong, and follow it along the river bank. We stumbled on Dave and Helen at a funky Cafe and decide on a coffee at Le Bennetton, down near our place. A quick check on their Air B&B called ” Homs House” which is very nice then a 5 minute walk takes an hour due to stops at shops and slow walking. A brief stop to withdraw 2 million kip in cash, but I feel safe with the equivalent of $140 AUD in my wallet. When we eventually get to the cafe it’s good coffee and French bakery stuff.

The cool morning is starting to warm up, its muggy so we decide to have a break and reconvene later at the Villa Santi Hotel bar  at 4pm.

The weather has cooled, and its pleasant at Villa Santi, Jo from the Phillipines, one of the ” boat people” is walking past, she joins us for a drink and a chat. It’s good to see young people make big life decisions like she has, she joins us for dinner in the local market area as well.

The local khao soi is good, but not up to the standard we experienced in Chiang Mai. We see more “boat people”, Reece from London, Sophie from Devon, Sanjeev from the USA, a blonde woman from the UK ( can’t recall her name) and some other young backpackers, all having a drink and enjoying the food. It’s a nice thing to talk to young people who have the courage and conviction to head off into the world into remote places ( like where we are), experience other cultures, food, people like the Lao people who are less fortunate than a lot of us. 

We wander back home via the river down the local market ally ways.

Ciao from Laos

Pauolo