I had finally given up going to Luang Prabang by boat and took the bus instead. Luang Prabang is really pretty even though it looks a bit out of place. Almost all the architecture is typically French colonial style so that most o the time you feel more like in the in the Mediterranean then in Asia.

You’ll see what I mean when you look at the photos. I really like this town: the temperature is perfect – not too warm and not too cold, you can walk everywhere, the food is great, you can even get excellent coffee and pastries and for the first time since I came to Laos I see pretty local girls. In the north I didn’t see a single good looking girl – and I was no the only person top observe this. But here you actually do see some nice girls. Not that I would be interested in starting anything with a local girl – if I did I would risk a fine and she would risk prison. Nice, ey?

But fortunately there are so many good looking “farang” girls here that I won’t get tempted. Two days ago I met one good looking Swedish girl, two cute Danish and a very pretty German girl. And last night (what a night – I think I’m still drunk) I met three more very good looking Danish and six (sic!) Swedes. Oh – and they all just broke up with their boyfriends. Or as one of them out it “If you travel SE-Asia for four months you have to break up with your boyfriend. Else, what fun will you have”. Fortunately they are sort of on the same schedule I’m on and will all go to Van Viang tomorrow or have already done so today. Originally I had planned to go to Van Viang today, too but somehow I had a vague feeling that I wouldn’t be able to do much today so I wisely refrained from buying a ticket today. Well, sitting on a wildly swerving bus, driving down a pot-hole riddled road while you are hung over, sick and have the shits certainly wouldn’t have been fun.

Amazingly enough the Swedes seem to feel better today then I do – and they were much, much more drunk. Unfortunately (?) I didn’t take advantage of this so I didn’t get any. But hey – at least I can still look at myself in the mirror – even though today what I see is not too pretty either.

The day before yesterday I had rented a small scooter and went to the nearby Kouang Si waterfalls. They are really, really pretty! And the best thing is: You can actually climb the 60 meters up to the very top and swim on the various levels of it. A lot of people don’t do it, though, so that can escape the small crowd that is busy taking photos from the bottom.

Once I had reached the top I decided to take a look around and followed some paths into the surrounding jungle. I really got scared though when I turned back: As I rounded a corner of the small path I suddenly stood only about three meters from a massive water buffalo with two young calves. And unlike cows water buffalos are actually quite aggressive. So I quickly made my way back to one of the little canals I had just crossed: Fortunately it was about two meters wide and went straight down for about another two meters so that it would have been pretty hard for the buffalo to get over it. And really – it followed me to the canal and only stopped there. Fortunately though water buffalos don’t seem to be very patient animals: After staring at me for a few minutes it turned away and swam through the next stream, it’s calves in tow. Else I’d probably had a problem – the only way to the bottom of the falls was down the path the buffalo was standing on.

After having met the Danish the day before yesterday I decided I’d have to change my looks a wee bit in order to blend in better with the young and hip backpacker-crowd. – so I bought a tourist-T-Shirt (Beer Lao) and even got a hair cut. The latter was a bit funny because after I explained to him how long I’d like to have my hair and after he had nodded, said “Yes, Yes” and smiled a lot, he simply got his razor out, said “Same, same!” and started his work. It turned out alright though. He even gave me a neck and shoulder-massage at the end that would have made any chiropractic proud: After massage my muscles he suddenly pulled at my head and violently jerked it around. The crushing sound was quite disturbing but I figured that if he kills his customers they won’t come back So I let him do the same again into the other direction.

Well, time to get some Bananas or something else that good for my stomach.

Oh and btw: I'm staying at the Kounsavan GH. It's nice, clean, has the bets showers I've had since Mandalay and has single rooms that start at 3 USD.