Argentina...steak, vino and spanglish!

After a hectic few months of non-stop travelling in Australia, New Zealand and Chile I fancied chilling out in one place for a while and spent 10 days in Bariloche, the gateway to Patagonia. While I was there I managed to take in a week`s spanish lessons at La Montaña which gave me a good grounding in the basics and let me start to learn more on my own. Although I was far too lazy to go on any of the treks or venture south into Patagonia I was able to soak up some of Bariloche`s amazing views from the relative comfort of the beach...even by South American standards it`s a really pretty town.

View of Bariloche from cable-car (obstructed by gimp in novelty t-shirt)

New Years Eve bash in Tango Hostel with Sven and las Argentinitas

I got hauled up on stage for a few drunken tunes to ring in the new year...(I thing this pic of me destroying Hotel California)

After Bariloche I sampled for the first time on the famuosly ridiculously bling Argentinian buses. For $60 I travelled the 20hr journey to Buenos Aires in style with 3 movies, 2 meals and free champagne...how bad? BA definitely lives up to the hype. The steaks are to die (or kill...or kill and then blame someone else) for, the women are the most beautiful on the planet (..not counting some obscure parts of West Cork), La Boca one of the most colourful little boroughs you`ll ever visit & the rest of the city is so full of more turbulent history than you can shake a stick at (..if shaking sticks is what floats your boat).

Seconds before devouring the best steak on the planet with Barry McDonogh in La Cabrera (...odd lesbian couple at the next table kindly took this pic for us...cheers dykes)

Downtown BA

La Casa Rosada...home of Evita`s stirring speeches & Madonna´s inane warbling

Colourful working class district of La Boca

Diego Maradona, Evita & a.n.other salute La Boca

Quality Boca Juniors mural, La Boca

After Buenos Aires I took a monster 20+ hrs bus up to Iguazu Falls, a truly immense collection of powerful waterfalls (dwarfing Niagara Falls) on the border with Brazil. Apparantly the negative ions generated by the waterfalls contribute to giving people a feeling of giddyness & euphoria, who knows. I´m no Scientician.

Iguazu Falls...the money shots!

Garganta Del Diablo...aka The Devil`s Throat

Post-waterfall boozing in Iguazu hostel

Cordoba is a great little University City (8 in total) with great nightlife and....er....ok, I mainly just went on the lash. There. I`ve said it.

Great afternoon session with Lyden on the bongos in Tango Hostel

Lashing it up in some random Cordobesan nigtclub with Richard (..the day before he was robbed at gunpoint!) & Lyden - link below

Here`s a spanish newspaper report of friends of ours who were robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight..they made it onto the Argie equivalent of News at Ten afterwards! - http://edimpresa.diariouno.net.ar/2008/01/26/nota171099.html

Polo lesssons in Cordoba...lovin´ it!

Mendoza is a great city in the wine-growing region of Argentina (...its Malbec is world famous) and is no slouch on the partying front with loads of great party hostels & clubs scattered around the city. My highlight was definitely cycling around the wine region for 6 hours getting lashed on 101 different wines and stumbling back home to continue the messiness, drinking some lethal local concoction from a giant babies bottle!

At Puenta del Inca (created by the interaction of ice and hot springs) with Frederico (x2) on Mendoza road trip

Cerro Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas

I WANT one of these for when I get home...no more drinking out of a cup for me

Mendoza`s famous vineyards up close

Sampling some of Mendoza´s finest produce...

Racing Vs Independiente (F.T. 0-0)...promised much but was probably the poorest match (..that I haven`t taken part in myself) for many a long year

Monster session in Break Point Hostel for our last night in Mendoza

Salta was a bit boring really...didn`t really see what all the hype was about. Far too sleepy for a big city & the weather was pants. If I told you the highlight of my time in Salta was sneaking into a 2 movies for the price of one that should give you a good idea of my opinion of it.

Boozing it up in one of Salta`s messy night spots (the Argentinian girl far left is close to being clinically insane)

Chile...(I know it`s not pronounced "Chilli" but I sound like a gimp when I say "Chil-eh")..help me!

Due to Chile having something vaguely resembling a developed economy and quasi-western prices a lot of backpackers tend to limit their stay in Chile to a night or two in Santiago before a long-haul bus into Argentina. Because I`m a glutton for punishment I decided to take the financial hit & explore Chile a bit more and I`m glad I did. It`s a country of vastly constrasting environments (from modern cities to desert to glaciers), super-friendly people and more than a few interesting sights along the way...I liked it so much I ended up spending Christmas there although spending Christmas day on a beach in 30 degrees was a slightly unsual experience..

This monument in Santiago is dedicated to the "Pueblo Indígena" (Indigenous people), who originally populated Chile and has been quite a contraversial piece as it shows the broken face of a Mapuche man symoblising the bravery of Chile`s native people.

As you can see, in Santiago Christmas is brought to you exclusively by Coca Cola...

After a couple of days in Santiago I fancied a few days at the beach and caught a bus up to nearby Valparaiso (Chile`s Cultural Capital and a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and Viña del Mar (a seaside resort town which has attracted huge investment in recent years)

View of Valparaiso from above (..well from as high up the hill as I was willing to walk)

Vina`s "ascensores” (basically urban outdoor lifts used by locals to negotiate Vina`s many hills) which date back to 1883

Valpo`s local scouse population open up for business..

Vina del Mar, the garden city

Testing out the camera`s timer function in Vina with Sole & Connie

The beach at Vina..looks lovely but your wobbly bits will not thank you one bit if you take a dip...it`s fuppin freezing!

"Big Wave" Surfing with Blake in Pichelemu

At the foot of Mount Villaricca, Pucon..8am. If only I knew then what I know now..what a tough day`s trekking

Views as we ascend...and ascend and ascend...

At the summit...finally, fit to drop at this point

P.S. The highlight of this trek was actually the descent where we were able to slide down 90% of the mountain on your arse at a ridiculous speed on a piece of plastic vaguely resembling a skinny hot water bottle..I`d highly recommend it (although be prepared to find ice and snow in some very unusual places afterwards)

View of a lovely mountain (the name of which I have no clue)

Hate the game, don`t hate the playa...

Celebrating Colo Colo`s 4th Championship win with some crazy, boozed up locals...some things are just universal

The fish in Chile is savage...

"Don Sergio" our lady-charming (apparently according to the man himself there are "many ladies who call me the Don", sausage-c0cked, wannabee-restaurantour bus driver...A legend

Sampling the huge Christmas feast Sergio prepared for us in Puerto Varas

P.S. "The Don" has his sights set on opening up a Chilean restaurant in Dublin so keep an eye out for him..the man can cook!

The Don doesn`t let some giant lemon slices get in the way of telling us how many chicas he has had in the last 2 weeks and just how fertile he is..

Just for the record I did spent the majority of Christmas day on the phone to home listening to various version of "The Fairytale of New York" on a loop...sob

Puerto Varas...30 degrees...Christmas Day...surreal

En route to Argentina...just some pesky border guards left to outwit

Views of the Andes from a Bus..perhaps the most visually stunning bus trip I`ve ever taken (I`ve yet to get the no. 3 bus out to Ballyphehane but it`s on my to-do list)

New Zealand...not a bad way to burn 6 weeks

My time in New Zealand got off to a shaky start. As you can see below the local law enforcement were eager for me to "help them with their enquiries"...being the genius that I am I took off my black hat quickly dumped my silver or grey mid-sized car & to throw them off the scent...its replacement? The big orange Stray bus which ferried us around New Zealand, as far North as Auckland and as far south as Stewart Island.

New Zealand is the home of Adreneline sports. You name it and they've jumped from, off and in to it...so when in Rome....

Skydive with Reno, Taupo - From 15,000 feet & over 1 minute free-fall!

Canyon Swing, Queenstown - Over 100m high, 60m freefall @ 150kph

Damian & myself bask in the post-Canyon Swing relief...

Agrojet, Rotorua - 0kph to 100kph in under 4 seconds!

Swoop, Rotorua - ..once you pull the ripcord you hurtle towards the ground at 130kph

Zorbing, Rotorua - Rolling down a hill in an inflatable ball full of water...Why? Why not?

Quad-biking, Waitomo

The Luge, Queenstown

And now for something completely different - Golfing in Wanaka

New Zealand has some of the most spectacular sights of natural beauty that I've ever had the pleasure to come across. It gets to a point where it's nearly too beautiful and it's hard to take it all in...here are some of the highlights:

View from Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier

The start of our all-day hike of Franz Josef Glacier

Random tree growing in the middle of a road - Otago Peninsula

More Glacier action...not even sure which one this is!

Mmmmmmmmmmountains, just for a change..

Mirror Lakes, Te Anua

Marlborough Sounds, Picton

View (obscured by gimp) from Wellington look-out

The Best of the Rest...

Relaxing in the Adelphi's hot tub, Kaikoura

Baboons have the ugliest asses in the world, fact - Wellington Zoo

I'm not sure why but I love this picture!
- Random ostrich, Rotorua

Maouri evening at Uncle Boy's place, Maketu

"The Haka", Maketu

Baldwin Street, Dunedin - the steepest street in the world!

Pulling pints to beat the band at the Speights Brewey, Dunedin

Another successful smash & grab operation at the Cadbury's factory, Dunedin

I heard somewhere that feeding the object of your obsession full of drink is supposed to work...

Hey presto, before she knew it I was on top of her giving her a right proper shaving - Tuatapere

Fancy dress party in Barrytown...maybe the messiest night of the lot?

Keep rollin' rollin' rollin' - Abel Tasman National Park

As a special bonus here's the best video taken during my 6 weeks in New Zealand...a baboon in Wellington Zoo going for a slash & then having a sniff of his wee..classy!

Australia (a.k.a. How to blow as much money as is humanly possible in 6 weeks!)

After 5 months acting the fool in Asia we decided that the Australians would be our next victims. We flew into Darwin and spent a few days chilling out there & venturing into the bush (...it was Dave's first encounter with the bush so understandably he was a little nervous).

From there we flew to Cairns and hit as many spots as we could along the east coast until we hit Sydney. After drinking like fishes for 8 days it was time for Dave & myself to part - him for his flashy new job with a marketing company & shiny new apartment, me for 6 more months of boozing, scrounging and generally acting like an under-financed backpacker-type around New Zealand and South America. Bring it on!

This was one of the first sites that greeted me while strolling around in Darwin..not too sure the paintjob will help the re-sale value though!

Enjoying a well-needed free steak dinner & all-night free bar tab after winning local 5-a-side tournament in Darwin


Sampling life in the bush in Litchfield National Park

Quick tip...standing next to the two palest people in Australia can do wonders for your tan

Learning to do the "Bloods" sign during a bus pub crawl in Cairns..well pleased with myself

Stopping off for a breather during a lung-busting bike ride in 30 degree heat in Magnetic Island...living like a slob for 5 months really didn't pay off that day!

Even I have to admit that this fella is cute, Magnetic Island National Park

En route to Brisbane on the trusty old Greyhound

Our vessel for our Whitsundays voyage...Habibi

Drunken shenanigans aboard Habibi...having to spend 30 mins in a dirty bin full of the day's leftovers was a tad harsh punishment though..

Managed to convince a girl to be in a picture with me. After 5 months of trying this was a huge moment for me

The two of us putting spandex back to the forefront of fashion

Group photo no. 168 on Fraser Island

WALSHY!! Left...no, not that left the other left you tool!

Local aboriginal tries in vain to teach us to start a fire using only wood & a coconut husk

Quiet session on the guitar turned into a mini-gig when 40 extra people rocked up from another camp..I'd have been lost without the head torch!

Our van decided to pack it in just as we were about to board the ferry back to the mainland..

Re-united with the Deloitte girls in Noosa

I loves the goon..

Some lovely rocks...

A close encounter with a frickin massive lizard, Noosa Heads (..just after our unfortunate encounter with a nudist beach full of wrinkly old men!

At a "Waifs" gig in Brisbane, great show..check them out if you haven't heard of them

The view from our hostel in hippy Nimbin..this place is paradise. Could've easily spent 2 weeks there instead of the 2 days we could spare

Re-united with the fellow backbackers we met in Vietnam - World Bar, Sydney

Two gimps ruin perfectly good photo of Sydney Harbour Bridge

Not a patch on Cork Opera House but at least they're making an effort..

Bali...surfing takes a back seat to debauchery

...in a word Bali was messy. For what was supposed to be a chill-out section of the trip there was a horrendous amount of alcohol consumed which did interfere quite a bit with our ambitions to turn pro-surfers overnight. For every wave we caught about 100 of them caught us, they caught us baaaaad.

After being on the road for 5 months it was great to see some friendly (if somewhat disfigured) faces in the shape of Dave Cahill, Eoin Barry & Richard Kelly. As they have little opportunity to dispute it I'd like to lay the blame of the messy boozefest squarely at their door although my insistence that we regularly re-fuel with shoulders of dubious local rum (...the infamous Mansion House) may have contributed to the alcohol haze...slightly.

View from Dreamland beach..beautiful, quiet secluded spot with absolutely monstrous waves which threw me around like a rag doll..

Normally I'd have no issues with Walshy jumping into the pool fully clothed..this time though I was a bit miffed that he decided to use my clothes...I did repay the favour later on that night/morning though

Late night/early morning drunken pool-based shenanigans, tom-foolery and all-round hi-jinks

Yards from the lads' villa we stumbled upon a secret cock-fighting ring...on this evidence cock's have a hard life

Bubbles shares some of his top-rate deep-throat techniques

Dave Cahill and myself gatecrash a local newlywed couple's romantic beach-front photo shoot (...just prior to this picture the bride pinched my ass..I kid you not)

The strain of all-day boozing starts to take its toll on some..

The lads' ridiculously bling MTV cribs-style villa..."Villa Kebun"

Quotes of the holiday -

1. "Come here to me Walshy...I reckon these birds are kosher" - Bubbles (..upon discovering a rare gaggle of local ladies that WEREN'T looking for payment in return for services rendered)

2. "Hey...how about you f**k me and then I f**k you?" - Random local ladyboy offers Bubbles a present he just about manages to turn down

Island hopping in Thailand

After doing the ring of south east Asia (Laos, Vietnam & Cambodia) we found ourselves back in Thailand where the times are good, the beaches are quality & the buckets are rocket fuel. Each day melted into the next with afternoons spent chilling in cafe's watching movies and nights spent strongly reinforcing the Thai drinks industry.

Here are a few of the highlights...

Koh Tao was really cool. We managed to brave the 6am starts and do a load of scuba diving & gain PADI certification...reckon a few dives along the Great Barrier Reef next month are definitely on the cards.

We found the most bizarre shop known to man, Mr. J's. Mr. J is most likely clinically insane. He has his bizarre philosophies on life printed out & laminated for all to see in his shop. Among his many pearls of wisdom is the view that if sportspeople don't give at least 70% of their earnings to charity or they'll be re-incarnated as kangaroos. This nutter also sells his own brand condoms (..essentially durex condoms with a Mr. J sticker placed on the outside) complete with 20 year guarantee & half-empty bottles of suntan lotion and moisturiser...in short he's got a bunch of screws loose.

Mr. J's take on the birds and the bees...

Can't find a fault with this at all...no way, is this guy a total nutjob

Koh Phangan was a heady mix of chilling on the beach, panning out in cafes watching movies and getting horribly drunk on buckets of sangsom whiskey. all the nights kinda blend into one, it's a very hard place to leave


Full Moon Party Mayhem...it's rare that such a massive night actually lives up to the hype but this one really did. It was a monstrous session which kicked off at 9pm and finished off at 6pm the next day when we finally called it a night...we were still broken men 5 days afterwards, anyone on for it next year?!?!



I managed to pick up some pretty nice injuries on the way home from a club in Thong Nai Pan, really wish they'd look into those pot-holes & maybe even invest in some street lights..it's not much to ask!




After a brief stay in the uber-tacky resort of Phuket we hopped across to Koh Phi Phi, the setting for much of the film "The Beach". Phi Phi is a cool, beautiful little group of islands where once again the buckets were out in force..we were raging we could only spend 2 days there but we had a connecting flight to Singapore to catch, would definitely like to hit this spot again.

Ray and myself successfully spitroast and unsuspecting statue of a lion..it didn't know what hit it..job done

...and one last thing. We came across this shop in Phuket, any thoughts on just what a BJ souvenir might be? Answers on a postcard..

Cambodia

All the reports we'd heard from friends who'd been to Cambodia pretty much amounted to - "You HAVE to go to Angkor Wat" and "Cambodia is poor as fcuk"...from our 5 day jaunt I think they were spot on. The journey from Saigon to Phnom Penh was a bit of a struggle because once we crossed the border the roads almost instantly turned from fairly decent roads to dirty, bumpy roads...welcome to Cambodge!

We found ourselves a cool little hostel near the lake which was choc-full of backpacker comforts - DVD player, Bar (50 cent a beer), Restaurant, Internet Cafe etc. We organised for a tuk-tuk driver to bring us on a day-long tour of the city including trips to the Killing Fields, S-21 Prison and the Rushian Market but he got really stroppy when we declined his invitation to go to a shooting range where you can fire rocket launchers and grenades (at $200 a pop) at cows ($50 a pop which you need to purchase from a local farmer) - after firing an AK-47 in Vietnam I think our bloodlust was satisfied enough.

The Killing Fields are a bit grim to be honest. What would astound as much as the piles of skulls & bones is the reasoning Pol Pol provided for killing an estimated 2 million of his own people. You were killed if the Khmer Rouge didn't like you, if you didn't work yourself to the bone, if you were educated, if you spoke Vietnamese, if you had a Vietnamese friend...it looks like you had to try pretty hard just to stay alive!

The notorious Tuol Sleng prison (known as S-21), an old high school converted into a prison to house, interrogate and torture prisoners (prior to them being sent to the killing fields), is a pretty bare, run-down site which shows little signs of the horrific acts which went on there. The most interesting sight there is probably the room full of hundreds of photos of men, women and children who passed through the prison on their way to the killing fields.

Because we needed to make it back to Bangkok by the 10th August to collect our stolen credit cards (kindly brought over to us by Walshy's buddy Mark) we could only spend 5 days in Cambodia so we belted on to Siem Reap pretty quickly. The only sight worth getting off your lazy ass for in Siem Reap are the temples at Angkor, built in the 12th century by the Khmer empire, Angkor Wat is the the worlds largest religious building and some of the minor temples have been used in the tomb raider movies. I did spend 8 hours trying to track down a seat that Angelina Jolie may have sat down on after a particularly sweaty scene but no luck..

What may even surpass Angkor Wat is the Angkor What? bar, it's a great spot for a ridiculous session & practically every available space is covered in graffiti, a touch of class.

The journey from Siem Reap to the Cambodian-Thai border was hell on earth. Crappy little bus, no air-con, non-stop bumps and a monster hangover..horrible stuff. We'll never learn though, the urge to get hammered ahead of a 12 hour bus trip in the sun is always too much for us...it's time to hit the beaches of Thailand & get re-acquainted with an old friend, buckets of super-strength whiskey & coke.

Good Morning Vietnam!

After the madness of Beijing, Hong Kong & Shanghai we didn't think we could find a more crazy city but Hanoi definitely tops the lot. It's the only city we've been in where you are genuinely taking your life in your own hands every time you cross the road, it's lunacy. There are 3 million people in Hanoi yet there are 5 million motorbikes so you can imagine how crazy the streets are. That said the old quarter, where were stayed, is really lively with loads of bars, restaurants, copied DVD shops (where I had a bit of a splurge on box-sets..) and little makeshift road-side bars selling the local brew, Bia Hoi for 2,000 VND a glass (about $0.12) - at that price you can't go far wrong.

We visited the Hoa Loa prison (also known as the "Hanoi Hilton") which was interesting as much for the blatant propaganda as much as anything else. The prison, built by the French at the turn of the century, previously held many Vietnamese political prisoners and they really went into minute detail on the abuse they suffered at the hands of the French. Fair enough, can't begrudge them that but they go overboard on how well they supposedly treated the American POWs with hugely exaggerated pictures of them cooking, playing guitar, reading letters from their loved ones and attending lessons in the prison. It has since emerged the prison was a site of numerous acts of torture, beatings, broken bones and teeth, dislocated limbs and medical neglect of infections. Although you do occassionally meet some really nice locals here I wouldn't trust most of them as far as I could throw them...on average they try to rip you off 5-6 times a day. I can understand that even a few $ here or there can go a long way for them but it gets on your nerves after a while..my tolerance of their sneaky ways varies depending on how drunk I am..

Walshy & myself are "shackled"...

We managed to grab tickets (..by paying over the odds as usual) to the Asian Cup quarter final between Australia & Japan. Even though the ref had a dodgy game the biggest mistake of the evening was made by the tournament organisers who criminally underrated the drinking capacity of the Aussies, the place was literally drunk dry before the game had even kicked off! The game eventually went to penalties with the Japs running out as deserved victors. We had 2 near crashes on our motorbike ride back from the stadium, Vietnamese motorbike drivers are like Valentino Rossi rushing to get to the toilet!


While in Hanoi we went on a 2-day cruise of the beautiful Halong Bay which is inhabited by nearly 2,000 limestone islands (several of which are hollow with enormous caves inside). We spend the two days kayaking, diving into the sea off the beat and getting lashed with a load of Aussies who were in Vietnam for the game. Money well spent I reckon. Halong Bay is now in the running to be one of the new 7 Natural Wonders of the World (up against the likes of the Great Wall of China, Mount Kilimanjaro & the Great Barrier Reef) - as nice as it is I reckon it'll struggle to make the cut - www.natural7wonders.com.

After Hanoi we hopped on a 12hr night bus to Hue (mainly because we didn't have the stomach for the 18hr bus directly to Hoi An!). The best thing we did in Hue was to hire a local fella, Tu, drive us around the countryside on his motorbike taking in as many sight as possible the best of which was probably an old US Army bunker at the top of the highest hill in Hue which has a great panoramic view of the city...he also took us on the lash with his buddies and we ended up screaming the night away at a local karaoke bar.

Boozing it up with Tu (far left) and his cronies

View from US Army Bunker, Hue

After Hue we headed on to Hoi An (only a 5hr bus..nice wan) where we spent 3-4 days chilling on the beach, getting suits made and getting lashed. Hoi An was a bit more chilled out than the rest of the places we visited in Vietnam and was probably my personal favourite.

Once we got kitted out with our suits (I ended up getting a load of stuff made but at those prices you'd be a fool not to) and got them shipped home we hopped on the bus to Nha Trang. Yet again it was a 12hr night bus but this one was a little different. We had the worst seats on the bus (they didn't even recline) and were hitting bumps that would lift you out of your seat every 10 minutes...horrible stuff. I guess if you only pay $22 to travel over 1,000km you'll get what you pay for. Nha Trang was a bit of a disappointment to be honest, mainy because we were looking forward to a few days on the beach but it was overcast or raining the entire time

After Nha Trang we continued down the coast to Ho Chi Minh City (although still largely known as Saigon to the locals). After trawling the narrow backstreets of Pam Ngu Lao (the main backpacker area) we eventually found a guest house that had two beds the only downside was that we had to lug our gear up 7th flights of stairs & there was a smell of stale cheese in the entire building..luckily we didn't have to pay extra for this feature. After a messy night in a club called Go2 (where they had no problem with us drinking a bottle of vodka bought from a 7-Eleven as long as we bought mixers there) we rose bleary-eyed and headed out to the Cu Chi tunnels which, during the Vietnam War, was the makeshift residence for hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese eager not to have their bits blown up by over-zealous US bombers. As ever the Vietnamese are mad to cash in on increasing tourism and have actually widened the tunnels to allow for more "robust" western frames. You really get a feel for how tough it must have been for them to live down there for months on end. With even a couple of people down there the temperature is really high mainly due to body heat & they are really claustrophobic. After checking out the tunnels we went to the shooting range where we both shot an AK-47 although at $1 a bullet our budgets couldn't stretch to trying out the rest of the guns on offer.

Laos - for Beer Lao we are truly grateful...

As with most people on a bit of a tight budget we made our way to Laos via a 3-day-2-night slow boat from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. From speaking to a few people who'd done it in previous years I was expecting hell on earth but it wasn't half as bad as we'd feared. For once we didn't go on the rip the night before and parts of the trip were really nice - floating down the Mekong river, sun beating down, Beer Lao flowing, tunes being belted out on the guitar. The second day was a bit of a drag (due to large hangovers & the lack of any seat other than the wooden floor) but it's definitely a cool way to see a lot of the Laos countryside (...not quite sure what qualifies as countryside though as 75% of Laos is officially forrest!) and meet loads of people that we've been running in to again in other parts of Laos.

Luang Prabang was our first stop in Laos and despite the 11:30pm curfew (we heard rumours of an all-night bowling alleys that serves booze but we never managed to actually make it there) it's a really nice town with a strong French influence in the architecture & local cuisine. One of the highlights was a trip out to the Kuang Si waterfalls which are really nice but the best part is a really cool rope swing that you can use to launch yourself into the air (and eventually the water). We made a stab at it but were shown up massively by a 12 year kid who was pulling off some crazy moves that wouldn't look out of place in a circus...I'm trying to track down a video of it & if I can I'll post it..the little fella is a legend. Aside from getting drunk Walshy & myself did muster up the courage to scramble up to the top of Mount Phousi (the dirty-minded amongst you may find the name amusing) in the 35 degree sun and were rewarded with some amazing panoramic views of the city. You'd get a good idea of what I'm talking about in the photo below if there wasn't a gimp in shorts in the way...

After 3 days in Luang Prabang we ventured on to Vang Vieng, which came highly recommended by a load of people from home & random people we bumped into along the way. It's a quality spot with the highlight without doubt being tubing. An activity which basically consists of hopping on a huge tractor tube and floating down the river...stopping off at countless bars along the way for pints of Beer Lao, buckets of whiskey and free shots of the local brew Lao Lao (tastes pretty much like chlorine...avoid it like the plague)...by the time you realise that you're really boozed you've already done a load of the quality rope swings like in the video below & you now need to make it home in the dark without drowning. Usually this 30 minute trip home takes about 2 hours and you have about 3 near-death experiences on the way..great way to spend a day though

Tubing Rope Swing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjgw1MGH4eM&mode=related&search=

Vang Vieng was the site of some serious boozing sessions despite the 11:30pm curfew. Rumours of bottles of Whiskey being devoured and reproduced (via the medium of puke) within 90 minutes are not wide of the mark. I also managed to sneak into a nearby (...what I hope/presume was a) guest house and gave them a blast on the drums at 3am...I thought it was quite thoughtful but they saw fit to chase us all the way back to our guest house..some people have no eye for talent!

We are in Vientiane at the moment and to be honest there's not a whole lot to do so we've decided to fly up to Hanoi on Thursday morning, the 22-hour bus to Hanoi sounded horrible so we are taking the easy way out...although we are worried that Laos Airlines are one of the few airlines in the world who refuse to publicly release their flight safety record, good thing I packed my parachute!

It must also be noted that Beer Lao is by far the best beer known to man. It's criminal that this beer is only $1 a bottle. It's quality.

Thailand - Bangkok and Chiang Mai

After 6 weeks in China, a country where you can wander endlessly in a city of 6 million people and not find a single bar, I think we were entitled to go a little bit nuts when we hit Bangkok. Although we did manage to head to the mammoth MBK market (over 12,000 shops!) and venture across the city to Sukhumvit & Patpong a few times the majority of our 8 days in Bangkok was spent getting rotten drunk on buckets of whiskey on the infamous Kohsan road, and rightly so!

By our second Saturday in Bangkok our livers screamed for mercy so we decided to head north on a 14hour sleeper train to Chiang Mai. In Chiang Mai we went to a Muai Thai fight night (billed as "Ireland Vs Thailand") & managed to secure some front row seats. These boys were as tough as nails and even the 12 year old 70kg fighters would probably give us a bit of a beating. The highlights of the night were:

(1) When they wheeled out 4 of their less impressive "athletes" for a blindfolded free-for-all fight, there were air punches galore in this one and

(2) The John Hayes look-a-like from Dublin fighting a guy pretty much have his size. The poor little fella had to get a few doses of smelling salts before he could be helped from the ring!

In a bid to get vaguely healthy we signed up for a 3 day trek in the jungle where we swam in waterfalls, rode some elephants, played footie with some locals, did some bamboo rafting and did a hell of a lot of trekking up & down some serious mountains. In preparation for the trek we decided to get absolutely loaded and fall into bed at 6am the night before (ahead of an 8:30am start). While we slept in our room some tool decided to relieve us of both our wallets, my mp3 player and Walshy's camera. If we weren't still loaded drunk we'd have been raging!

While our local opium-smoking, whiskey swilling guides were motoring up & down without breaking a sweat we just about made it back in one piece...our decision to try riding on the elephant's neck as opposed to the safe/secure seat complete with seatbelt nearly saw us take a plummet from about 15 feet in the air a few times...

...as I type we are gearing up for a horrible sounding 3-day, 2-night slow boat (complete with wooden benches to sleep on) trip to Laos, can't say we're looking forward to it.