On Friday night we took our first sleeper bus to Pakse, a small townin the south from Vientiane. After having to get a local to explain to our bus company on skype the name of our guesthouse we were pleased to get picked up at 7.30 as planned to take us to the VIP sleeper bus. Ash had done his usual last minute '"adrenalin rush" by deciding to put a film on his iphone 30 minutes before we left!

On arrival at the bus depot we were pleased to see some bigger buses looking more like VIP standard and after a shaky moment when the guy didnt have a ticket for us, we were directed to a big neon bus that looked the part. Once we`d watched our bags being loaded we climbed aboard to discover we had the bed right at the back of the bus which was meant for 5 people. You could lay out full length (well I could) so we were well chuffed at the thought of having a full nights sleep during our 12 hour journey. Our plans were soon shattered when 2 Vietnamese guys climbed aboard and joined us on the back bed. Ash was OK with this as there was still a gap down where the aisle should be between us and them. This was until another man climbed aboard so there was 5 of us sharing the bed. An interesting nights sleep was had by all; I was OK pressed up against the window but Ash complained of the man next to him trying to cuddle him or elbow him all night. Funny looking back now!

It got even more interesting when at 2am I decided to use the toilet on the bus whilst we had stopped at some station. After 10 minutes of waiting I was told ""no work". I quickly grabbed my sandals, told Ash to stand outside of the bus in case it drove off and legged it as fast as I could to the stations toilets. Thankfully the bus was still there when I returned so Ash decided to try his luck and quickly pulled my sandals on and ran off into the station in search for toilets himself. I prayed that the bus wouldn't go and thankfully Ash appeared just before we pulled away. Phew!

Luckily we fell asleep after this little drama until at 6am we were woken by the Vietnamese guys getting off the bus. They had told us they were going to Pakse too so Ash went to see if we needed to get off too. Too late we were moving again! We quickly threw everything in our bags and got ready to leave at the next stop. For Asia,this was a miracle as the bus wasn't meant to get in until 8am and we`d been told to always add on a few hours to bus journeys.

We got a tuk tuk once we`d scrambled off the bus, found a guest house and chilled for the rest of the day. We even treated ourselves to a massage which was just what we needed. Pakse had very little to do so we stayed here 1 night only and booked to travel to 4,000 islands the following day. We did meet some interesting people though including a geordie who was cycling (yes cycling) around Asia. He hadnt caught a bus yet whilst he`d been in Cambodia and was a good laugh. He had another inspiring story.