Vang Vieng and Tarzan

4-10th MayThe road to Vang Vieng is very scenic, and we had the slowest driver in the world so had plenty of chance to enjoy it.This place is just as small as the town i had come from, but much prettier. Next to a river, and on the other side are huge Limestone Cliffs.No locals live here in the main town, really, it is just full of tourists, but there are not that many.Found a really nice hotel next to a river with views of the mountains for 3 pound a night.It said in the guidebook that it is possible to stand on a corner and hear 5 episodes of friends at once, as the cafes and bars all play some kind of tv show to get people to come it, and friends appears to be the most popular; and it really is true, although one of them has defected to family guy.As it is the rainy season, every night there is a spectacular thunder and lightning display, and one night it started just as the outdoor nightclub was coming to a close. It was pretty funky, as they are all on an island and all outdoors, and they all have open log fires, so seeing everyone around the fire, with flashes of lightning in the background when you are a bit stoned (so i heard, obviously not me mum) was all a bit surreal.Then on the way back, the couple of 40 watt bulbs that lit the way to the rickety old footbridge, went out as there was a power cut in the town, but my SAS training kicked in and i led our group fearlessly.Good job there was a flash of lightning just at the point i was about to lead us in to the river. Ha ha, i had missed the bridge by about 10 foot.The big event here is the "Tubing". All it is is a load of bars on the river bank that have huge rope swings, and you rent a big inner tube and float down the river, stopping at the bars as you go and generally getting hammered. If you want to pull in to a bar, they throw a rope at you and pull you in. Ingenious.So seeing as it was so hot, we did not leave until about 1pm, but the river was packed, the swings are insanely high and the music is loud, but it is a really nice atmosphere.Obviously i had to be a man, and go on the first swing, as as you will be able to see from the tarzan video, i bottled it and did not let go til i was heading back towards the platform and the rocks.Unfortunately this is the only video clip, but i went a couple more times and got much better at it and you can just about see me in one of the pictures. The last time i went was on my last day, and by this point i was doing it one handed, and i went a bit crazy in the sun, and also had a few too many "happy" shakes, and i nearly broke my neck and was poorly on the way back and had to go home to bed. Oh well.The mountains are famous for the many caves they have, so i booked a day trip caving and kayaking, but i was not blown away by the famous elephant cave i am afraid. looks like some has used a bit of araldite and glued some tusks on it, but you have to be there really.the other cave has a river in it and you enter on a rubber tube and you basically go inside the mountain. I was a bit worried as there is only a couple of foot clearance at the entrance and it had been raining heavily the night before. So all the river had to do was to rise by 2 foot and we would be trapped.Well actually i was more worried about getting electrocuted by the ingenious miner's torch they gave me, a motorbike battery on a string around my neck with the wires just twisted together as you will see from the photos.But we did not flood and i did not get electrocuted.Not much more to report really. Someone stole my flip flops while i popped in to a hotel to look at a room. ??Well, Now i just got to work out how i am going to get to thailand and where i am going. I will probably have to go back to Bangkok first.Flights from laos are quite expensive, so it might have to be a 2 day train jobbie. I will go to Vientiane today, which is the capital and spend a night there and check out the best way to do it.So next installment, bye bye laos, hello Thailand (again).....................