Growing Fat on the Tourist Trail.....

Have finally got around to sending some news - we did try earlier but were unsuccessful in sending it off.We are having a great time but will let you read the news below which contains our earlier email written in Luang Prabang on about the 10th April.....

{PAUL}

Our only point in visiting Bangkok was to pick up our Uzbekistan visa.The officical foreign affairs issued invite took us 10 days to get in Australia and I noticed in Bangkok that I had got Dimity's birth year wrong by a year but expected it to be overlooked.On the other side of Bangkok at the consulate I presented our invitation to the consular official who accepted it with our passport and photo's.I had forgotten to brief Dimity to not say anything so she casually asked him "The dates are wrong does that matter?".The consular official (a native speaker of Russian) looked at her questioningly. I would have stopped her but Dimity was already getting her passport back to show him my mistake.It took about a minute for D to carefully show him the mistake and for him to understand the problem.Then he answered "That is critical information you must fix it with the foreign affair's department in Uzbekistan. It should only take a day.".So I contacted my sponser in Uzbekistan and 6 days later the adjustments still hadn't come through.We decided to leave that evening with or without the visa.I rang up Shavkat (I was on a first name basis with most of consulate staff by now) and told him we were leaving.He said the changes were coming in by fax as we spoke (yeah right!) and could we come in at 12 noon.By 4pm he had issued us with visas, which normally take a week to process without a large surcharge.So we were on our way although we still don't think that the confirmation had come through from Uzbekistan!

(DIMITY)

Well with what shreds of dignity and pride that I have left.I would like to think that we got our visas at a much cheaper rate than normal?Needless to say I will be keeping quiet on all border crossings from now on in!

So we have been in Laos now for the last 6 days having finally made an exit from Bangkok.Bangkok didn't impress me much.The weather was hot and humid and it really is a metropolis.Paul and I stayed near Khao San Rd which is the local Backpackers hang out quiet an amazing place if you are into the ferral lifestyle and body piercing.The room we had was quite clean and comfortable which makes a big difference (for me anyway!).

We missed out on catching a train into Laos due to it being full from a Thai public holiday.This disappointed us both but the bus was ok after all.First drop off point was Vientienne (no hassles at the border - Paul did all the talking!) and from there we caught a bus to Vang Vieng.This is a small town which is a a bit of a bottleneck for backpackers.I think that there were more foreigners than locals.This was a bit of a shock for Paul and myself - obviously Laos is fast opening up and already a favourite for backpackers touring this side of Asia.

We did the usual "touristy" things (which Paul really did enjoy!) and went floating down the river in a tube.Paul looked quite distinguished with his lilly white skin and I ended up with sore arms trying to propel myself to keep up with the unsympathetic guys!We also visited a cave with a local Lao guide. His vocabulary was limited too "Slowly Slowly!", "Watcha ma head!", "This is number one" (huh?) and "Thankyou!" everytime a photo was taken (note this was never of him).

The touristy thing got too much for Paul and we weren't really interested in the local specialities (gunja and opium) so we moved on.... to the BIGGEST touristy spot in Laos!!!So here we are in Luang Prabang, a world heritage listed city.We leave tomorrow.It is really quite charming with French colonial style buildings and with the best french baguettes this side of France!The landscape along the Mekong is apparently picturesque the only problem is that we can't see it for smoke! Both Paul and I have been shocked to see the burning around Laos which has blanketed the whole country in smoke.In most parts visability is only a few hundred metres.The environmental impact would be huge.

Tomorrow we leave on a slow boat up the Mekong for a two day trip to bring us closer to China.Paul was quite excited about this until a fateful conversation with a friend we met in LP who stated this was also a major tourist route.True travel still eludes Paul but he remains hopeful - I have been doing my best to bolster his spirits.I'm just really enjoying myself...