Like minded soul in Vang Vieng

Sabaidee all,

As luck would have it, whilst i was at the internet cafe last night uploading the pics of Route 4, i met a lovely chap that runs the internet cafe in town and we got chatting. It turns out he has helped some foreign friends of his arrange to help children in some of the villages about 100kms from Vang Vieng. A friend of his from Norway had raised money to build a school in one of the villages which cost approx 10,000 USD. Seems like such a small amount for a school, given the land is donated by the Government and it is only building materials and desks etc that are needed, we were so happy to meet this guy. When we mentioned what we we're doing here he offered to take us out to one of these schools to give some books and equipment.

As we are headed for Vientiane today and didn't have many books left to give out, we asked if he would take the remaining books to one of these villages to donate to them. He was so excited and graciously accepted our offer. This morning we are off to the morning market to buy a couple of Soccer balls to give him to take along to the school when he goes.

We exchanged details and he asked for my email address so he could take and send me some photos of the books being given out to the kids. As we are heading direct to Vientiane today and we won't be passing many villages, we felt this was the best way to distribute the remaining books we had.

We have his details now and he has said he would be very happy to organise some village visits for us next trip around this area.

Thanks again to all of those who have and continue to support us in our endeavours. Please know that you have changed the lives of many Laotian people for generations to come and we love you all from the bottom of our hearts. We are so grateful you trusted and helped us to make this all possible. One of the most amazing experiences of our lives! We are definitely addicted and can't wait for next time.

After breakfast at the Inthira Hotel in Vang Vieng, we headed to the markets, a quick stop to our new friend and then we hit Route 13 to Vientiane for our last night's stay in Laos.

On a rather amusing note, whilst i managed to replace the exhaust mount bolt in Luang Prabang, it is clearly in the wrong spot as you will see below :) Mr Moto, sorry but you will have a few things to fix for us before the next trip :D hehe

Korb Jai Lai Lai, Chris & David :) (Two very happy and quite emotional farang)