ITCHY-BITCHY-TIRED... or WHY THE FOOL PAYS TWICE

So far we've been raving about Laos and not complaining too much about whatever... That was until yesterday. Last a couple of days we haven't been lucky. We've been riding the high wave until recent, and now we're hitting bottom. By the way don't mind the title. This is how we feel at the moment. Like in every story there should be a sad part to it. I just hope that our "sad part" won't leave you bursting with laughter, which is okay. At least someone would have a good time. :)

The troubles began in Vang Vieng, which is not worth mentioning here. We arrived in Vientiane as you know and checked into the cheap guesthouse. Apparently we got what we paid for. A big single bed (which is fine) infested with bedbugs. Of course we didn't find out about it after sleeping in bed for one night. Well, we sort of knew it, because Katy spotted little moving black spots on the sheet and later I saw plenty of bloody spots. Well, apparently Katy already wrote about it so, I'll insert her excerpt here and continue later.

When we arrived in Vientiane, we began to look for similar accommodation to what we have chosen throughout our travels. Many guesthouses were full, although we don't think this is necessarily because Vientiane is the capital of Laos but more to do with it being where most tourists end up at some point. Vientiane is a capital where no-one wears suits, most people drive scooters and the few large buildings in town (the law courts) are only about 4 storeys high and are built in a Lao style, with a pagoda-like roof.
So after walking around for an hour or so we chose a place for around $4.50 US. It wasn't the best room we have had, but it seemed adequate. But after I took a nap I felt itchy. Vlad found one bedbug but that was all. He then dotted Deet all over the sheets and we put another cover down and our silk sacks as well... But our efforts was useless. We were still eaten alive. Vlad sustained more bites than me, presumably because he tastes better, around 200 bites or so, in rows down his arms and all over his back and front.
So we moved to another place yesterday evening ($5.60, even though we had to pay for two-thirds of that day at the first place ($3). I looked carefully at the bed in this second guesthouse and saw that it didn't have blood spots on the mattress and the sheets seemed clean. So we took a shower, I slathered our bodies with Calamine lotion and then Vlad went out while I took a nap. But on waking I had fresh bites on my knees and I actually SAW the little bastards running around the bed!! I was so disappointed that I jumped up, put my clothes on and ran out into the rain to find Vlad, who was at an Internet cafe. I didn't find him and returned to sit, disconsolately, on the sofa outside the guesthouse until he returned. When I even found a bedbug, or would that be sofa bug, crawling across the top of my seat my resolve hardened. We would have to move again today.
At 9 o'clock Vlad came back from Internet and we immediately packed up only our small backpacks and decided to find a really clean, nice guesthouse for the night... and pay for the third time that day for accommodation. After walking around the block, we eventually came back to the hotel right next door to us and happily paid $23 for a "real" hotel room with clean white sheets, a TV and a proper bathroom. And although we itched all night, at least we know the number of bites cannot be increasing.