On my way to Laos

So I'm having a bit of a panic. I am just starting to realise how very little time I have to do all the things I want to do in South East Asia. 8 weeks to travel Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, then 8 weeks volunteering in Cambodia and then 6 weeks afterwards to fill in. It's not very long at all. I think it might be good to fly from Singapore to Phuket, have a few days on 'The Beach' and then on to Chiang Mai, Laos etc. etc. That sounds good to me. I'd prefer to focus on Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia first. And at only 40EUR per flight it's a bargain. We'll see closer to the time how it will take shape.

But just take Laos for example. I know little to nothing about the country and would have thought I'd only spend a week there. Now I change my mind after a brief Google and I have no idea how I am going to travel all these beautiful places in such a short space of time. I've been told by many that Laos has been their favorite out of the 4. I didn't realise they had been through so much. It's basically the world's most bombed country, with 2 billion tonnes of bombs having been dropped on the country in a couple of years. There's been a brutal, brutal civil war and many of the bombs dropped on the country did not explode nor have they been cleared. And yet the country still maintains it's soul.

On the sightseeing side of things, Laos also has ownership of the biggest waterfalls in all South East Asia, The Khone Papeng and home to the Plain of Jars, 3 sites of megolithic stone jars pottered around the landscape and more.

What I absolutely will not be doing in Laos is 'tubing' or engaging in the drunken tourist brigade floating down the Mekong river in a rubber ring being pulled into ramshackle bars along the banks. Ok, so I might float but I'm not drinking. Ok, I can't promise that either. Fuck.