The final...and I mean FINAL...post...

Yes amigos, this brings to an end the Mr. Corona saga.  We overnight in Hanoi tonight, then first thing tomorrow we are back to Vancouver.  Thanks for reading, and looking...and commenting!  Like Richard Nixon, I'm not a crook, and you won't have Mr. Corona to kick around anymore!!!

Maybe it's Vientiane pronounced JanWiang...

...or Wiang Jan, or Albino Laotian...or DANG WANGI!!!  Whatever they call it, we went out to investigate...this was the first temple I saw...

 ...so, I got my own temple!  After a temple or two, we saw another temple...a Presidential temple...

...then another old one...I liked this one almost as much as my temple!

 

 

 

...a couple of flowers on the grounds...

...check out the thorns on this one!

...Vientiane pronounced JanWiang...or Wiang Jan, or Albino Laotian...or DANG WANGI...they have their version of the Arc de Triomphe...

...and here is Cassandra doing a little drawing in a coffee shop...

...good dessert!!!

Laos...very poor...sort of hell on earth...but friendly!

How 'bout that...4 countries this trip!  We got on the BBBL several mornings ago...it was already an hour late.  For those of you that don't recognize BBBL...it's the Bucking Bronco Bus Line!  Our trip was roughly 300 miles to a place in Laos called Pakse...like taxi with a "P".  I had a book on my computer, Stan Getz on my mp3...a 7-8 hour trip we were told.  Nope...12...count 'em...12 hours later, we roll into Pakse.  It was not so bad...every cut by Stan (4-4.5 minutes) meant a good 75-100 yards more down the road.  Did I mention that BBBL and PAL are partners?  If you don't remember, PAL stands for Woodstock Airways...they never leave the 60's!  Like I said, it wasn't so bad...they only broke down twice...and they carry a mechanic.  Mr. Corona went a 12 hours without a beer...or a pee break!  I don't think we will last here too long...as short as possible for me.  I've been uploading pics for the better part of 2 hours, got 3 of 11 so far...we may be back in Vancouver before the 11th one loads.  This is the third world ladies and germs...and there isn't enough beer in the land to make it any better...but the people are friendly...really friendly!  Geez, I'm glad I don't live here.  I think Mr. Corona has had it with the third world...if I want the third world I'll go to Saskatchewan!  The pics never did load...that was 2 days ago...we left Champusak, back to Pakse on a songthaew (Diahatsuu pickup/taxi/bus/live chicken and goose transporter today), to the airport to fly to Vientiane pronounced Wiang Jan...oh get a life...I don't make this up ya know!  On our way to Champusak, I took these...ya ya...old pics...

 

...we stopped to let someone off, and it was the attack of the turnip people...or something.  And here is something you won't see anywhere else...this is a Mr. Corona exclusive...say "Albino Laotian" three times fast!

 Then we met crazy Derrick from Ireland...

 

...had been banished to Laos because he doesn't drink...well, enough for Irish standards anyway...and probably for wearing these on a daily basis...

 This is the Laos official flower...

...and this is an official Laos kid...

...and this is the government sanctioned sunset...

On our second day in Champusak, we went to the Laos version of Angkor Wat...hmmm...Angkor Dot maybe...there wasn't much left...but Belgium seems to be rebuilding it for Laos.

 Tomorrow, it's Vientiane pronounced Wiang Jan...go figure.

Kongpong Cham...sounds like....

We left Phnom Penh early Tuesday morning...on a regular old bus!  It took about an hour to get out of the city, but boy...DID WE LEAVE THE CITY!!!  Kongpong Cham is about 2.5 hours northeast of Phnom Penh...but a world away.  We had front row seats on the bus...I did a double take on the odometer...

...almost 1 million km's...course, everything (almost) is old in this country.  Once we got to KC, we hired a tuk tuk for a tour...and what a tour!  It started off plain enough...

...but then it got dusty, and Cassandra converted to Muslim...

...and that was only in the first 45 minutes...dust is a way of life here.  We crossed the Mekong River a few times...it's the dry season right now, so fishing isn't that good...

...these were part of a floating village that get's huge in the rainy season.  Then we went to the oldest wooden temple in Cambodia.  The Khmer Rouge killed a bunch of people here, and painted a bunch of the temple white, but the monks have brought it back to some of its original splendor...

...each one of the support posts is an intricately decorated tree trunk, and look at the ceiling!!!  Here is one of the monks...

...this is a big monk training camp...here are two of the monkids flirting with Cassandra...

...there was a nice shrine out over a pond...although it doesn't look very liquid...

...after the monastery, we took a ferry across the Mekong...which is like the Mississippi...

...which takes horse drawn wagons too...

...next to the ferry were these boats...

...the sun was great on Cassandra...

...and on the river...

...this put us on an island...with great fields of tobacco and corn...

...we went through this little village at sundown...

...but the most amazing thing was yet to come...a bamboo bridge!  Every year the rains wash this bridge out, and every year they rebuild it out of bamboo...THEY DRIVE CARS OVER THIS THING!!!

Our hotel didn't have internet, so I couldn't do a post...but this was the sunrise over the Mekong from our balcony...

...the tower in the lower right is an old French watchtower left over from the wars....and this was from our breakfast table...

...not a bad life!!!  So this morning it was off to see the oldest ruins in Cambodia...even older than Angkor Wat...

 ...and a beautiful lady cleaning up...

...that was after the dentist...this was before....

...off to another, less inspiring temple...with monkeys!

...the Khmer Rouge killed a bunch of people here too...

...these are all new temples...

 

...and finally, the Temple of 10,000 steps...sorry...Mr. Corona died!

...there was no bar at the top!!!