An Asian Adventure - Laos

Laos is undisputedly my favourite Asian country. From amazing scenery to some of my best adventures and the brilliant Beer Lao, I nearly stayed there the remainder of my time.

Crossed the Mekong to reach the Laos border - the bribing of the border guards was an efficiently run process - and took two days on the leisurely slow boat down to Luang Prabang, which has an amazing monastry and beautiful French colonial architecture.

I (stupidly) decided joining in the Mekong kyak trek was a good idea, although it did prompt me to get a traditional massage afterwards. I should have stayed with the cocktails at the one bar/club the town had - the drag caberet was eye opening too.
There was a government conference on in the capital Vientiane during my stay, which meant an early curfew, and an escort home from the bar by machine gun-totting military. A stark reminder Laos is still a communist country.

The bus ride to Vang Vieng is perhaps the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen. Mountain peaks and valleys, ramshackle villages and distant horizons.

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It was here I also found out I couldn't buy a visa for Cambodia at the border with Loas, so I had to submit my passport to a travel agency here. I was a bit nervous about this, and I didn't relax on the trip down to Vang Vieng until I had my passport safely back in my hands. Which is a bit of a shame, because looking back, that bus ride was just stunning scenery. Some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen.

Vang Vieng is amazing - massive white topped cliffs with a river flowing through them. One of the highlights of this place is floating down the river on an inflatable tyre, stopping along the way to buy beers and rope swing out into the Mekong. I met Steve, a Geordie on this leg of the trip, we got along great and shared a room and made plans to meet again in Australia. But last I heard he was off to Puket for Christmas. I never heard from him again.

The lockdown for the international leaders' conference meant I had to skip the capital, Vientiane, and spent some 36 hours on a bus travelling south through the country down to Si Phon Don - or 4,000 Islands, right near the border.

Stayed on a tiny island here with no electricity, no running water, just a tiny shack with a hammock and a view across the water as the sun set with a Beer Lao in my hands.

I'd heard a bit about this 'Beer Lao' on my travels so far, but this was my first chance to sample it - sensational. I've never had it since leaving this remarkable country, but it's easily one of the best beers I've ever had.

Here I was reunited with Tasmania girls Alex and Hannah who I'd met a few times earlier, and we met a group of crazy Israeli guys who were travelling after finishing their army service.  They'd been there a week already.

A few days of relaxing and exploring a few islands and it was time to make the trek across the border into Cambodia.