Coo

and hills.,

And so vang vieng turned into a place I kind of would like to stay a bit longer...certainly the town is little more than a string of bars and restaurants, too many in the ebb tide of the party years and two of my three attempts at meals were inedible, and an echo of the party scene lingering sadly in darkened corners...

Buy across the river the scenery is astounding, a tangled mass of limestone jutting in strange shaped peaks...today a 15km walk to the blue lagoon via a Buddha cave and a stream bend masquerading as a lagoon, the the water was blue; same river clever ruse...

and, setting for my hut at sunset, the wonder of the blue hour as I bimbled into echoes of the celtic twilight, more shards of yeats, while the light changed and the slight wisps of cloud turned pink in the afterglow, the hills receded into shadow and then further; silhouettes between the road and the swarming stars breaking upon the night in wilderness clarity. Torch off I stood grinning lunatic in the quiet between passing cars and bikes....

and so, to my surprise I find myself a little sad to leave, like mong ngoi, a place of great beauty...and so off to ventiane, couple of nights in the city and then south...