LAOS photos page 2

Here are some nice pointy mountains, similar to the mountains in Guilin, China and the north of Thailand; and some interesting creatures, water buffalo I believe.

The food in Laos is quite good in my opinion, in fact better than Thai food (according to my taste) - some Lao food appears to have some European influence;  there is also plenty of strange stuff, although I always avoid such things - weird spices, sausages, meatballs, meatcakes and strange things made from lizards, insects, snakes and various unpleasant parts of other unknown creatures are always very much in evidence in China and Thailand, but I always avoid them.

A market in Laos. This was near Veng Vieng, which gets a few tourists - but far less than Thailand. I went to Laos in May 2005. I got a visa on arrival (at the Friendship Bridge, next to Nong Khai in Thailand) for 25 US dollars; this is the standard price for most Western nationalities I believe (although Thais and various other nationalities can travel in and out for free). Incidentally, the overnight train from Bangkok to Nong Khai, which took about 9 or 10 hours as I recall, only cost about 700 baht (less than 10 pounds at that time) - hmmm, pretty cheap compared with a Penzance-Newcastle train journey (which is probably about the same distance...) Why can't we ever get value for money in England? Grrr....

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