Freedom.

Sometimes you meet people who change you. Change the way you think about things, the way you see the world - in a literal sense at least. Since I crossed the border from southern Laos into Cambodia a week ago I've been with a group of people who more-or-less shunned the day tours in favour of more travelling freedom in the form of motorbikes/ scooters. In every town I've been to so far - Banlung, Kratie and Kampong Cham, I've been on the back of a motorbike exploring the surrounds a paid day-tour would not take me. Important to note though, I...

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There and back again.

This has nothing to do with The Hobbit. I just merely stole the title.  This is about the sometimes (read mostly) unglamorous transport options and tours which get me to the beautiful places that I take photos of and subsequently write about. In Laos, most of the overland transport is limited to buses, minivans, motorbikes, bicycles and boats (if you're lucky enough to be near a river).  Most of the buses and minivans (except for the local transport) are actually quite nice - clean, with air con and big windows - but what gives the...

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Forty-eight hours in Vang Vieng

Curiosity got the better of me when I booked a ticket to Vang Vieng. I'd heard plenty of stories about the place about three hours north of the Laos capital Vientiane - a place of excessive drug taking and drinking; bar hopping while floating along a river in an inflatable tube. Stories about people dying or getting seriously injured. I told myself I'd stay away. It wouldn't be my scene, I thought to myself. I was right. Getting on the local bus, I was hoping to find other travellers to talk with or at least be with when we were scheduled...

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