And so to Vientiane. The capital of Laos, and sadly our last stop in this country as we were unable to get a permit to take the truck into the south. This is a pleasant town, small for a capital city and sporting, as a result, a delightfully sleepy atmosphere. There is not much to see or do here but compensation is delivered in the form of a river-front 'esplanade' with multitudes of outstanding BBQ restaurants serving all manner of sea-food, local delicacies and beer.

We spent a very pleasant couple of days here, eating, drinking, making merry and enjoying the stunningly cheap massage possibilities. An hour of full-body, very accomplished massage being a steal at three dollars (US), a bargain in anyone's language (that is to say any western language). Sadly, as I was to later realise, this represented the pinnacle of Asian massage and a sudden end to my recently started quest. Nowhere did I find one better. If I had known at the time I would have had another.

So, duly stuffed with exemplary prawns and thoroughly relaxed courtesy of the skilled hands of local messieurs we departed after not enough time for the Thai border and a hell-for-leather drive for our next destination.

Cambodia here we come.