Living the rich life!

If you enjoy feeling rich without actually being rich Laos is the destination for you. Bundles of 10 000, 20 000 and 50 000kip bills are in circulation, millions of kip pass through your fingers daily. Unfortunately they are only just worth the paper they are printed on. Life's great when you can live off $10 AUS a day, including a few beers as you watch the sun go down over the Mekong at the end of another hard day in southeast asia.

For breakfast you can indulge in a fresh baked baguette which is a blend of rice and wheat flour. These come plain for 3000kip (40c AUS) or fill them with pate, salad and flossy pork. A cup of rich strong Laos coffee kick starts your heart for a mere 3000kip.

Lunch time is great for a bowl of noodle soup, fine rice noodles cooked to perfection come in a bowl of steaming pork based broth with fresh greens, chunks of meat (your choice; pork, chicken, duck or beef) and crispy pork crackling. 7000kip (90c AUS).

Freshly squeezed fruit juice and shakes are avaliable on every corner for just 5000kip (70c AUS).

Dinner time, well anything goes! In Vientiane there are many restaurants serving up local cusine, French, Italian, Indian or Korean, there are even a few steak houses to be found. Depending on what's your flavour you can spend as little as 14 000kip ($1.80 AUS) or as much as 300 000kip ($38 AUS) for Foi Gras in the best French restaurant in town.

We keep it cheap so there is more kip for beer Laos! On the Mekong you pay for the view at 10 000kip a large bottle ($1.30 AUS), small bars around charge 7 000 to 8 000kip ($1 AUS) but if you buy from a distributor you can pick up a case (12 large bottles) for 63 000kip ($8 AUS).

1 litre bottles of 'Two Elephants' drinking water will set you back 1 000kip (15c AUS).

Eating and drinking around Laos is a fun,cheap way to mingle with locals and get a feel for there lifestyle.

They do love to eat!

Finding your "Happy" place

It seems that in this part of the country, "Happy" is a way of life. Unfortunately, in preserving this unique "island", the exact location must remain undisclosed. It is somewhere in the south, and the only way to get there is by boat.

This particular part of the Mekong is splattered with green, leafy islands.The depth of water, as well as the clarity, depends on the season. Nothing happens here too quickly, so you are best to just sit back, relax and watch the river go by.

It feels amazing to be in a place where nobody is concerned with rushing about, the river moving faster than anything, or anyone else, for that matter. It may well have something to do with the "happy" vibe found in many restaurants there.

Some of my favourite menu choices were, "All fried dinners will happily be made happy for 5oookip ($0.50), happy wedding party, happy birthday cake, please specify how happy you want your birthday cake. Tours, all tours are always knowledgeable, safe, memorable, and, of course, happy".

My personal favourite, "Hangover Brunch, scrambled eggs, garlic margarine, cheese baguette, french fries, 500mg paracetemol, 10mg valium, cold pepsi, fruit salad. US$4.00", which can if course be made happy!

Every couple of weeks, someone in the village may slaughter a cow, and it's roast dinner night. The beast is open roasted on the footpath, the incredible smell unescapeable. It will set you back about US$4.50 and includes salad, fries, bread, a few shots of local whisky and the biggest plate of meat you have ever encountered.

Just what you need after a day in the hammock.

Oiy's Bakery

The extreme south of Laos is home to Si Phan Don, or 4000 islands. There are many hidden treasures in this laid back and peaceful part of the world. A big surprise was a wonderful bakery run by the friendly Oiy, aka Darren, from Western Australia.

A short stroll through the village of Don Det will lead you to the Lamphone guesthouse. Adjoining this guesthouse is Oiy's bakery. Oiy, aka Darren, was born in Mount Barker in Western Australia. He did his baking apprenticeship in the seaside town of Dunsborough, the gateway to the world famous Margaret River wine region.

A holiday in SE Asia turned into something a bit more permanent. Darren really enjoyed the laid back style of southern Laos, and it's super friendly folk. So much so that he decided to set up his own bakery. Darren imported the bakers oven from neighbouring Thailand, along with all his other baking equipment. His day generally begins at around 9.00am, quite rare for a baker.

He prepares all his goods by about 3.30, sells some from the deck of the guesthouse, overlooking the Mekong. Then he packs all the remaining goodies into specially designed trays he stores on his push bike, and pedals his wears to the guesthouses around Don Det, first in, best dressed, of course.

You can choose from gorgeous baguettes, mushroom foccacias, carrot and chocolate cakes, and at least 3 varities of moorish donuts, cinnamon sugar, chocolate or banana and chocolate.

Decisions, decisions.