We fell asleep the previous night rather early and I was kind of annoyed Leeds were 2-0 down at home to Barnsley. At around 6am the following day I woke up and found it hard to sleep again as all I could think about was if Leeds got a goal back by the 50th minute they could have won, I thought about it for about 30 minutes then decided to get up and check my phone, they lost 2-1. Shortly after the whole team was awake and as we needed to get up and on the bus by 9 we decided to shape up and get some tucker at the bar, we did just that, I experimented by trying a "deluxe breakfast" Jon and Max got ham, bacon, eggs and a baguette which arrived as just eggs and baguette, Jon lived up to his "Englishman of the year" reputation and complained that the waiter couldn't even understand English and he couldn't wait to move on and get away from these ignorant foreigners, Jack's birthday breakfast appeared to be grains with fruit and a semi generous helping of yoghurt (which Jack pronounced as yo-gurt, quite when he turned American is anyones guess).
After breakfast I decided to call Jon out on the pool and we resumed from Jon winning 2-1, first to 3 games, 2 games later I had wiped the floor with him and won 3-2. In typical Asian fashion the transport turned up when it felt like it, late obviously and we set off for a change of bus. As we were last to arrive at the new bus we were given the shit seats, Jon sat next to a frog, Max next to a crout and Me and Jack sat up top with Mohammad the driver. To say my seat was uncomfortable would be a laughable understatement, it was so crammed I had to move my leg everytime the driver changed gear, we settled ourselves and prepared for the 4 hour drive. We took some frequent toilet breaks which held no real importance to the journey. The roads were narrow, the cliffs were steep and the driver was awful, he overtook on blind corners and just generally scared everyone, it is a genuine miracle we didn't kill anyone, it was so bad Jon even went on record to say to me "I no longer think you are the worst driver" the place fell silent after those words, everyone was astounded he had spoke them but even out European friends had quietly agreed.
During the journey I had time for some quiet reflection as sleep was never an option, as we drove through the mountains and saw the villages scattered amongst them it made me realise how lucky I am that I'm currently in a bus driving through the country these people live in on a 4 hour trip when these people, especially the kids will live their lives and probably not see as much of their own country as I have, they have absolutely no chance of seeing the world and it upset me a little bit to think they will probably never really leave their little region. After that bit of realisation I decided to put on the Russell Brand podcast and laugh to myself. About 3 hours in to the journey we saw some bus's stopped up ahead so naturally we stopped just behind them, this is where I imagined gunmen would come out of the bushes and take us all hostage, maybe even killing some of us, I have my hostage strategy so if in ever taken I think I should be alright. The reason we had stopped was because our road, the only road we could take, had turned into a building site, there were diggers on the hill dropping rocks and dirt all over the road and a bulldozer clearing it up, the place quickly became infested with tourists looking at what was going on and the amount of Germans became unbearable.
The work finally stopped after probably 30 minutes and we were allowed to pass for the final leg of our journey, the designated 4 hours game and went and nearly 6 and a half hours later we arrived at the destination. In no mood to ponder we took the first place offered to us and got on a tuk tuk out. Again we chose a place that was down an alley an first impressions are not delighted but it will do, we payed our money to Laos very own Del Boy and unpacked a few bits before heading out to explore, we had a good walk about during which we saw a dog that had his lipstick out, he literally had no shame with his pink penis hanging between his legs, found a working ATM, stopped outside a bar and Jon moaned at Max for looking "nervous all the time", browsed the market which amazed me because everyone was selling the same crap as everyone else around them, I don't know how they could compete with each other, Jack spend some birthday cash on a tacky fridge magnet and we looked for a place to eat. The burger and chips boys (Max and Jon) decided to be slightly more adventurous Jon got sweet and sour chicken which he moaned about because it didn't have rice, Max had something and noodles and Me and Jack had green curry and red curry respectively, mine was delicious!
We moved on for some birthday drinks to quite a swanky little place where we say upstairs overlooking the diners, Me and Jon had cocktails, Jack and Max predictably had beer. The night was soured here as not only did Max realise he was sat on a red ants nest but also we discovered Leeds midfield dynamo Gary Speed had infact passed away, it ruined the moment and I was a bit taken aback to be honest, it was a shame but Jack had just turned 22 so we carried on with our lives. We moved on to another bar straight after and we had some drinks and general chit chat, I say we, I actually mean Me Jack and Max, Jon had drunk some alcohol 24 hours earlier so he was on straight Pepsi. We constantly said happy birthday to Jack and before you knew it we were walking home, Max took his bottle of beer with him and looked disgustingly English. We went to our rooms and i fell asleep within minutes, overall a good day and Jacks birthday aswell, slightly soured by Gary Speed's death, but that's life and we must live on in memory of him!
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