So we managed to get our visa sorted so opted to book a bus too vientiene, this bus only took three hours but because the roads were that bad it was pretty bumpy and didn't get much sleep. We had not been told too much good things about Vientiene, pretty much that there was nothig to do there and that as capital cities go it is probably the worse.

It was fair to say our expectations were low but we needed to have two nights here before we could enter Vietnam. Our first night was ok after walking around finding a hostel we settled on one, then had a steady walk to the river and night market. We then had tea and found a few pubs showing football so decided to have a few beers and watch Wigan beat Liverpool. And it's always good fun watching Liverpool lose.

The next day Earl arranged us a mini tour of the city after doing some research on his iphone, when Earl leaves I am not sure how I am going to cope without him, his iphone and his cotton buds. We first went to the morning market, which was more like a department store than a market. We then went a walk up the road to visit Laos version of the Arc De Triumph in Paris, the monument is not finished and even the Laos people see it as just a huge lump of concrete, but I didn't think it was two bad and with a bit of restoration it would be a real attraction for the city. We then had a steady walk up to the golden temple. This is by far the worse temple I have visited and I would recommend this to nobody. We walked in to be greeted with grass and concrete walls to look at and nothing more. We then had a steady walk back into town and sorted our bus to Vietnam. This is going to be a long and boring 24 hour bus to Hanoi but it should be a good experience and the bus which we are goig on has beds so hopefully we should get some decent sleep. The beds will probably be better than at some of the hostels we have stopped at.

Anyway after we had sorted this and had lunch we decided to walk down to the national stadium to see if there was anything happening we got lucky and managed to see the second half of a local Laos game. The standard was absolutley shocking. As you all know I'm no Messi, Rooney or Ronaldo but I could have even have got in the team. In fact I think Ithe standard is better on a Tuesday and Wednesday night down at Ashfields. We then went to the swimming pool next door to the stadium and had a cheeky little swim. We didn't expect much from the night and planned an earlyish one but we met and American called Evan and a girl from Inverness called Jackie who gave us some advice about Vietnam and Cambodia and also taught is some new drinking games, such as f*** the dealer which i have played before but couldn't remeber as I got pretty drunk the last time I played, treasure hunt and also even more varaitions to Ring of Fire.

Anyway that about brings us up to date we are just chilling for the rest of the day until we get picked up for our bus at 5.30. Hope everyone is well. Speak soon and stay safe. Adi xx