sunsets, soldiers, and a belated bonfire night

we had a beautiful bushcamp in a small village somewhere in Laos, which was very picturesque. we camped on a small part of a locals field that was about 20 mins walk from the climbing area. we were surrounded by fields and a river not too far away with water buffalo bathing in it, mountains framing the area. the stars were awesome, and so were the sunsets. the climbing however was not so hot! there was one route at 6b, a couple of scary 6cs and everything else was much harder. so i tried a 6c a few times, which was a thuggy climb with an awkward roof in it. i took the opportunity to relax and enjoy the area. there was a huge cave we found on the last day, which we think went miles into the mountain. i would have liked to swim right into it if it wasnt getting dark.
we had some nice bonfires, one we made a guy falkes as we had missed bonfire night while we were in Vientiane. Ed added some petrol and guy falkes disappeared very quickly!
we were all ready to move on after 4 days, and get back on the road. we stopped by the side of the road on the first day as it got dark and set up tents and cooked. just as a few of us started going to bed, a car pulled up and 3 guys got out telling us we shouldnt stay here- it wasnt safe. we tried to communicate with them that we were fine, but they hung around trying to persuade us to move. then another car stopped and more people were saying the same. we eventually found out that Laos is hosting the South East Asia Games soon and they were worried about bad publisity if anything happened to us. the cars went away but soon the first one came back and 2 more stopped. in the end, one man told us there were 200 soldiers around, and he sent 7 soldiers to come and stand around in the road and protect us. they had guns, and some of the unofficial men had guns- one was a machine gun. it all felt very intimidating becasue you didnt know who we could actually trust, when we were in the middle of nowhere surrounded by men with guns! i tried to sleep, then moved into the truck and slept their. it was a relief to wake up in the morning and see an awesome sunset. the soldiers left us as we woke up.
we are now in an area called 4 thousand islands, known as Si Phan Don, so yes we are currently on an island! we picked an island and got a boat across- Don Det. its small with lots of cheap guesthouses and restaurants. we sat and watched the sun set over the water last night, went to a few bars before they closed with curfew and found some other people with a bonfire on the beach. today we will do some relaxed exploring before crossing back to the mainland and on to the border to Cambodia.

sunsets, soldiers, and a belated bonfire night

Vientiane, Laos