We arrived in Laos, after a pretty painless journey. There was a lot of hanging around but I think we are used to it now. Our accommodation was Babylon Guest house which was nice but the beds where like rocks! We made ourselves at home and grabbed some lunch in the hostel and with one of the girls from our coach: Cat. Everything seemed to be going well, looking forward to a day of tubing the next day and then everything takes a massive turn. Sarah trips down a step and CRACK. Tuk Tuk to the local hospital for an x-ray and we find out it's a clean break of her foot. The hospital in Vang Vieng was something that no person should have to endure, it was basic, very dirty, very little communication and all the people like to come over and have a good stare at us and Sarah's injury. We then were advised to take an ambulance down to Vientiane. The ambulance was as good as the hospital: old, dirty and just not equipped to do anything medical. So the long 3 1/2 journey back down to Vientiane began, the roads are horrendous, very bumpy and not kind on a broken foot. We hoped all the way down that this hospital would be better, being the capital, we were disappointed. The hospital was out of something out of a horror movie. Floor to ceiling of dirty white tiles, injured people on stretchers in corridors, women crying, we were parked up next to the resuscitation where we could see them doing some kind of operation to a very bloody man who was in a lot of pain. After much sign language and pigeon English we got them to understand that we wanted Sarah's foot to be cast so we could get the hell out of there. The casting room was a sight to behold, the only way I can describe it is like the room in the 1st saw movie, everything was dirty and there was instruments everywhere. I went off to pay for all the treatment and that was pretty scary as it was in a horrible dingy part of the hospital, where there was lots of people pushing in front of me, or just giving me a good stare. Laos people like to stare at us westerners. We got an ambulance to the 1st hotel at 12.30am at welcomed not being in a hellish hospital. All Sarah wanted was to get home and I did not blame her, I felt so sorry for her, it's the worst thing that could have happened in the worst country.

The next day, we needed to head back to the hospital to get Sarah a fit to fly note and some crutches. The lovely female doctor was amazing; she helped us out and gave us everything we needed. The man from Amex arrived at the hospital when we were there and picked us up and drove us to his office, where he sorted out flights to get Sarah home. This is where we departed Miss Emanuel, and we headed back to Vang Vieng and our travels as a twosome.

We got back to Vang Vieng and sorted out our visa to Vietnam and our coach which we had to cancel the night before as we didn't know what was going to happen. We then met some of the lads from our hostel in the restaurant near our hostel, where we had some food and some drinks; our early night was slowly slipping away as they suggested we go to Q bar for a bucket. We met some more people we met on the coach and ended up drinking and having a bit of a dance, which me and jess where missing so much. We felt bad though as we knew Sarah was on her way home by herself. After Q bar we headed to bucket bar & limbo bar, which was by the river. We had some more buckets, which Jess later spilt down me. We did some fire limbo, people were doing fire breathing. We ended up having quite a late night, but a good one.

The following day, day 1 of tubing, we awoke to some horrendous hangovers, so we headed for a nice full English to sort us out to a day of tubing. Tubing is AWESOME!!!!! We got our tubes and a Tuk Tuk down to the river, where we had a hair of the dog Moijto and went on the 1st slide to ease us in. We then jumped on our tube and headed to bar three where we covered ourselves in UV paint and spray paint and pressed on with the beer. We were trying to man up so we went on the blue slide at this bar which sends you flying into the river. After this we headed to the next bar on our tubes, where we got our 1st bucket of the day. After this bucket, we started to a fill a little more confident, so Jess got me up on the jump, which was a lot higher than I thought. I absolutely pooped my pants but loved it at the same time. We then moved onto the mud volley ball bar where we played surprise volley ball, which was sooooo much fun, it was hard to stand up and you kept sliding around in the mud and you would dive into the mud bath to try and hit the ball, was excellent and me and jess wanted more. After this we thought we would head down the river only to find there wasn't much else, so luckily I jumped off my ring and got off at the river, but jess and some German girl who we met on the way had to climb up the bridge from the river, hilarious to watch. After we got back and had some food, we hit the bars again with everyone; let's just say I ended up sleeping in the Irish boys room that night as I was kicked out of mine. This was after I battered down a pancake lady down to one dollar but then felt bad so gave her two.

I was awoken by some trampy Yorkshire girl, who was also staying in there and made my way back down to my room with a stinking hangover. We headed off to Tubing this time with everyone from our hostel, this time we were more up for it as there was a larger group of us and we knew what we were expecting. We did some more slides and Jess manned up and did a massive swing, rather her than me, but I was proud of her. We also bumped into Guy from Brunel, which was very random, who did the jump with Jess. I did it once and that was enough. We then all headed off to the mud volley ball a lot drunker than the day before, when we arrived the ball was lost so we ended up having a large mud fight, which was hilarious. So to wash off we headed up to the next bar which was called slide bar, which had surprisingly a huge slide in it. Jess managed to push me down this huge slide, which was so exhilarating. We did some more dancing and headed back to the hostel...well apparently anyway. Everything is a little hazy from here on in, but we headed back for a nap, that ended up us waking up at 10.30pm very disorientated and being late to pick up our passports. No Worries though as we got them the following day. We got a baguette which were sold everywhere.

Tubing was awesome, but not very cultural. Our next big adventure which was the sleeper bus to Hanoi, which was the worse way to travel, the seats are great, but they cram the aisles with Laos people who we picked up along the way. I ended up having a man next to me for 31 hours moaning and flemming. But we got there safely.