I went on my two month long trip of Indochina. I skulked a bit in Qatar
\n eyeing up the tablecloth-clad gentlemen and in turn being the recipient
\n of their roving eye. Thought maybe not. From Bangkok Railway Station there
\n was a direct train. This leaves every night at 8:00pm or 8:20pm. You can
\n book a sleeper berth complete with curtains to the Friendship Bridge at
\n the Laotian border. Crossing the border is easy – the usual stuff
\n – $20 and a British Passport and you are there. Vientiane is the
\n next stop. One needs to speak a little French to admire Alleys, les baguettes,
\n Les Arch de Triomphe. I walked everywhere – the whole place is less
\n than three square miles. <\/p>\n
If you happen to skip the French breakfast, the French colonial attitude
\n and the temperature, go to Luang Prabang. It’s a beautiful place
\n – until they get funding to finish the long runway. <\/p>\n
If you happen to be female, make sure you are wearing the right underwear:
\n the Buddhist monks on the top of the hill happen to be very observant\n <\/p>\n
Then there was a little problem. Up the Mekong down the Mekong. Make
\n sure you are fit rather than panting your lungs away along the waterfalls
\n like I did. <\/p>\n
After having had such a lovely time, it all went a bit sour: three days
\n after flying back from Cambodia, I spent 40 minutes on the internet in
\n Ko Chang (Eastern Thailand) Internet café. A local man asked me
\n if I wanted to buy drugs. I politely refused. What happened next? The
\n guy kicked me in the face and broke my nose, leaving me in a lot of pain,
\n and bleeding all over the place. A Kiwi traveller called the police who
\n arrived pretty quickly. After 4 hours of investigations and searching
\n my possessions, they decided to find the offender. The court case took
\n on the spot. By 2 a.m. the police and the translator were around and so
\n was my attacker; very professional, except me bleeding all over trying
\n to fix my broken nose. I identified my attacker and then I was taken to
\n hospital where the costs of fixing up my poor nose were paid for. I flew
\n back home to avoid the rest of the nonsense. <\/p>\n