So, we finally found the sun again! Two days ago we got a 4 hour bus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng. That was an experience as Steph was suffering with the flu/stomach upset/dying in general.

Laos is the most beautiful country. Vang Vieng is a small town surrounded by gigantic mountains with a blue sky and huge sun. There is one central road that runs throughout Vang Vieng which we were staying just off of for the first two nights in a hotel. As we found somewhere cheaper and much nicer, we moved this morning to a hostel on the main road.

We had our qualms after the problems encountered in the past few years, but yesterday we decided to give tubing a go. It was fantastic! We walked down to the tubing place, got numbered, picked up our tube and got shipped on to a tuk-tuk with 9 others.

10 minutes later, we were floating down the Nam Xong River in our tractor inner tubes! The scenery is unbelievable, it really is one of the prettiest places on earth. As a lot of the bars were closed down along the river a few years ago, tubing was quite a peaceful experience.

On the first few stretches of the river, there are four bars dotted along the bank playing loud music. Some of them have people standing in the river to entice you in while others have people standing on the bank that throw a plastic bottle at you attached to a piece of string and pull you in. We stopped once at the Bucket Bar.

Every now and then down the river, a swarm of kayaks would approach. Some decided to splash you so we figured it was best just to splash them back. As the tide was low, we had to watch out for the shallow parts where you could scrape your butt when you got to the rapids. The current was quite strong and drove Steph into a tree by the riverbank. It took us about 4 hours to float down the river to the finish.

For dinner, you pretty much choose a restaurant based on whether you want to watch Friends or Family Guy. The seating is raised with low tables and cushions, so you can lay back, eat, drink and watch the program of your choice. Last night Steph got her own way and we ate watching Friends. We finished the evening with a banana and Nutella pancake from a stall outside for 10,000 Lao Kip (about 80p).

Today we explored more and found a load of platforms on stilts above a shallow part of the river to sit on and relax. Walking along the main road, we just bumped into some friends that we met in Hanoi. It's very strange but great to see some people we know and hear what they've been up to since Vietnam!

We are enjoying Vang Vieng's calm vibe so another few days here are on the cards.

Steph and Max x