01 Jan: Arrived around 4pm after a very long & winding road that was a bit funny at some times given my fragile state, but it was really easy to find a guest house compared to Luang Prabang. Once I had my room, I put the majority of my clothes in for the laundry and set off about town. It's really small and laid back with lots of cafes and places showing episodes of Friends and surrounded my massive mountains. I found myself a cafe bar with cushions on the floor and set off watching the Liverpool Bolton game followed by the Spurs Pompey game. By the time I left, everything was dark - just a few stalls selling pancakes along the road.

02 Jan: Got up to do the usual hire-a-bike-for-the-day and went out exploring the town. It's so small so it was not long before I was on the drit tracks and heading for the mountains, where they have loads of caves to check out. It was hard work getting to them and once inside, it was like being back in the tunnels in Ho Chi Min City but really good.  There was lots my mud and if I were going to do it again, I'd wear something other than flip flops!! I checked out a few caves and headed to the lagoon - it was a further 7kms (I'd already gone 7kms) and it was tough work - most people take a tuk-tuk, a motor bike, or at worst a mountain bike, but I eventually made it! It was quite nice, but I think in the sunshine I'd built it up a bit too much, so had a Sprite and a packet of crisps and headed back! I got back to town, had a shower and caught an episode of Friends and then went to one of the bars on the Islands just off the main area called Smile Bar. You can only get there over a long unstable wooden bridge, but when I got there it was dead, so the family who run it invited me to join them for dinner in their hut!! I did and had some great food - you get a lettice leaf, put some pork and rice inside and dunk it in chilli sauce and then eat it all with a Beer Lao to wash it down!!  I was there for around 2 hours, then headed back to the main road where there are 2 bars and bumped into some Australians that I'd been on the boat with and celebrated New Year with and we had a good night in the bar then on to a club. Tiny place, playing Thai disco and Euro-pop, but pretty funny!

03 Jan: This was a good day! Up and out early, ready for tubing. This is like being on the Lazy river but doing it all day. I left just before 10am and myself plus 2 other lads set off along the river. Just after, we floated along in the sunshine, passing various small bars selling Beer Lao and then through a few mini ripples in the waters before we got to a couple of main bars where we hopped out our rings and sat down chilling for a while. It's great there, having a few beers and jumping off the side, doing the rope swings and zip lines. Gradually more and more people turned up and some of the people from the 'slow boat' were there on the sides! We set off again, this time lazing back with a beer in hand floating down the river! It was a slow pace and the scenery was amazing. It was so relaxing - eventually the journey came to an end at the Smile Bar. I'd got back at around 5.30 (its supposed to take 2 hours!) and we all aranged to meet for a pizza later!!

04 Jan: I had a really lazy day - just headed down to the river and lay in a hammock for most of the day, taking in the scenery and generally being lazy. I met up with some people again later and that was to be my last night there. I spent 4 nights in Vnag Vieng and that's the longest I've stayed in once place since being away! I'm now off to the Capital, then I'm going to hit South Thailand!!