First of all - ignore the photo. I'll find something more suitable soon but the connection's slow and the choice is limited! OK the adventure began on the minibus. After a reasonably comfortable few hours cruising round the mountain (that is, ignoring the part where we had to change buses because ours "had no speed"), the sky got darker - dusk we thought. Well yes, but then the heavens opened, the lightning started, the thunder rolled...and our headlights illuminated about the next 5 metres of the mountain road we were wending down at speeds that made us...well...pretty nervous. (Chess - "we're going to die, we're going to die!". Me: close my eyes and it'll all go away). Anyway, eventually, still in the pouring rain, we pulled up to a hotel in Vang Vieng, rather shakily checked in and headed straight for the beer that would ensure sleep, even after that journey. The next day was tubing day! We'd heard SO much about this, we were all extremely excited, and actually managed (after a very relaxed morning including a lovely head and shoulder massage that obliterated MOST of the memories of the Laos massage we'd had in LP that had managed to cripple me for a couple of days) to get together more or less on time and, suitably dressed and minimally equipped, head down to the tubing station. A quick tuktuk ride (and after signing a release form and having numbers put on our hands "so we can identify your body if necessary" - gosh they know how to instill confidence!), we walked down a muddy path to the river and were off! Bar #1: the zip wire. Newton, with his leg encased in blue plastic bags in an attempt to protect his bike-scarred shin (bicycle, that is, not motorbike. And a pink Hello Kitty one at that), generously gave me his go on the zip wire, acquired with the first Beer Lao of the day - wow it was fun! Being pinged off at the into the river certainly wakes you up! Bar #2: the one where you actually begin to wonder a) who you DON'T know there from your travels and b) whether you will ever leave it. There's an awesome flying fox trapeze - once was enough for me, kept the adrenalin going for AGES! - good bar with cold Beer Lao (what more do you need?!), little huts in which to sit and chat, and good food. We spent a fair while there... Bar #3: amazingly un-Beer Lao'd, we found the surfboard bar. There's a huge bit of fence tied onto a tree that bucks in the river's stream - throw yourself off the platform upstream and pray either someone's there to catch you and pull you on, or you don't miss the rope and end up practically in Vientiane (painful hey, Kat and Rob?!). The boys were rubbish. The girls (ably hauled onto said surfboard by moi) were pretty good. Until we all fell off. Barrel of laughs, but the bar most likely to result in bruising and cuts! Bar #4: OK I might be missing a few out now - this was the diving board bar. After a perilous climb up a tree CRAWLING with huge red ants, you clamber across a rickety bridge and it's a bit like walking the plank - only a lot more fun! A brief stop was enough for us... ...and from there we spent a very relaxing while cruising down the river in the stream, forming circles, playing games, chatting and laughing and trying not to get into the wrong stream at the end point of the tubing. Steer left and you'll end up god knows where. Showered and dry for the first time in a long time (it's amazing how much your hair and clothes soak up the colour of the river water!), we had our infamous happy night...those of you who know Vang Vieng know what I mean! Unbelievably, embarrassingly and disappointingly, I packed myself off to bed with a serious case of the tireds far too early! (In my defence - I lasted an hour longer than I said I would). The next day was quiet, but a few of us headed out to a nearby cave. After a novel trip - being driven along through a river where you can't see the tractor pulling your trailer because it's submerged is surprisingly amusing - we came to our destination. We'd been stunned by the beauty of the scenery - Laos is just gem after gem of scenery - and weren't disappointed by the swimming area of the little river that ran past the base of the path up to the cave. We promised ourselves a dip later on, but first a steep climb and some caving was in order. Which we did. In flipflops. We bouldered our way through the cave in flipflops with only a lighter to light the way and frankly it's unsurprising that, for about 40 minutes, we were utterly, utterly lost!!! One of those stories that are only funny in restrospect and when everyone's safe...so now we can look back and yes - hilarious. Standing in the middle of a deserted cave with 5 people round a lighter yelling HELP - yes, hilarious. Of course, the law of sod being what it is, as soon as we emerged - muddy, knackered, bruised and battered - 3 separate groups were on their way in - so would have been no problem! Anyway, proud of ourselves, we swam (COLD but lovely), got back to town and treated ourselves to passing out in the Friends cafe. A lovely night followed with a chilled out supper and drinks by the river. Tomorrow we're all off to Vientiane. In kayaks.