Getting ready to go

[Usul]

I was there a few years ago - the buses haven't changed, nor the conditions. Stay far away from Vang Vieng - don't even stop there. Drunken Australian kids (sorry!) all over the place and have wrecked the place.

Beer Lao is the best beer on earth. Just magnificent to sit and watch the sunset on the Mekong, eat mekong seaweed and sip on a beer Lao. I'm envious.

Couldn't agree more with everything you said, especially the beer Lao part.

I totaly agree with you that SEA is one of best destinations one can choose for traveling. I was there 3 times and in 2 month I'm going there again. This time it will be the Philippines. I see you know everything about your future trip but I know almost nothing because I have so much work now so there is no time for preparation.
Have nice trip and take a lot breathtaking pictures.

Have only been to the Philippines once and for just one hour so I didn't see much.
Knowing about travel in SEA is like knowing how to raise your first child; nothing goes exactly the way the way books tell you.

Interesting to read about beer. I was in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia and in every coutry the beer I tried was just horrible worse than any beer I tried at home. I wonder why is Lao beer so good?

 

[The_Traveler]

LaFoto,
Boy, that's a voice from the past.
Has photography become less of a hobby or is your time taken up elsewhere?
Nice to see you again.
about the 'wonderful photos'. Photos I can guarantee, wonderful -we have to see.


Re: Beer Lao

It might be one's own taste but there are some local things that might affect my enjoyment of it..

1) I'm not much of a beer aficionado and do well with Sam Adams
2) It is hot and dry in Laos when I go
3) Beer Lao is in bottles, freshly brewed.
4) Beer Lao is cheap

So, sitting around in a hot dusty shack (restaurant) after a day out in the heat, Beer Lao tastes really good.

 

[LaFoto]

It seems as if photography has - indeed - become a little less of a hobby of mine in the past couple of years, I'm unhappy with what I produce and hardly find any more motifs in my immediate surroundings. I do photograph when I travel, but haven't been anywhere overly interesting in 2014. The photos taken in Australia in 2013 never got worked on to an extent that I'd wish to show them... sigh. Ah well...
I still hope I'll get my inspiration back, and the desire to shoot, or to experiment with this or that like I used to...
For you I hope you'll have a MARVELLOUS trip to Laos.
A region of this world where I have NEVER been (other than stopping over on trips to Australia).