Greetings all. Hope you're all doing fine .We stopped in Vang Vien for a few days after Luang Prebang. We travelled by bus through the central mountains in what could have been the most perilous mode of transport yet. The bus conductor gave out sick bags, before we left the station. The roads were twisted through the mountains and we were constantly thrown around our seats. A poor little Laos woman sitting nearby didn't enjoy the trip very much. She spent the first 3 hours of the trip with her face pushed out a tiny window, blowing chunks at the roadside villages !! We stopped several miles from Vang Vien. We were given vouchers for noodle soup at the roadside café from hell. Dead roaches on the floor and a toilet that read - 1000 Kip for clean toilet. Rik looked inside it, and couldn't figure out if he had to pay to have it cleaned before he went in, or if this was it at it's best. Regardless he held his breath, entered the "bathroom" and squatted over a hole in the floor. From a huge vat of water he filled a saucepan and chucked water at his ass before flushing away his business. No quilted toilet roll here!

When we finally arrived in Vang Vien about 7 hours later, we found a fantastic little bungalow with the river, Nam Song, right outside our window. It cost 5 quid a night!

Vang Vien is a small town surrounded by beautiful countryside. The bars in the town sell cheap beer and playing endless episodes of Friends. This area attracts a young crowd seeking action and activity breaks. Of course, being the Young Unprofessional Adrenaline junkies that we are, we fitted right in.

We spent the first night checking out the town with, Marina, an English girl we met on the bus journey. Several beers later and a power cut hit the town and we had to abandon the Blog update we were halfway through. We planted ourselves in a nice wee candle lit bar to enjoy a drink, and when the lights came back on and we found we were sitting in one of the awful bars that played re-runs of Friends. We are ashamed to say we ordered beer after beer and sat watching one episode after another.

The following day we booked a trek. The group were a lovely bunch of people all from different parts of the world. We spent the morning in tubing through a cave. Rik let Anna carry the torch, only because of the massive unsafe looking battery that it came with that hung around her neck which dragged through the water. We spent the afternoon kayaking down the river from bar to bar all the way back to our villa. An absolutely top day and a great crowd to be with.

One of the girls in our group then arranged for us all to then meet up in the evening for a meal, and at 8pm, we were all sitting at a lovely wee open fronted restaurant. The meals were finished, the drinks and laughs flowing fast, when a strong wind suddenly swept through the town. We looked up the road and saw a dust cloud swallowing the street. We all darted inside while the front of the joint was wrecked by wind, lightening and rain. Another power-cut then followed and a few minutes later we heard a loud bang. We later found out this was a major electrical junction which had blown in the town. We all sat in the dark with tiny candles, drinking and playing games. When the rain stopped we walked back to our villas along the pitch black road, using a couple of torches that we had brought. We got back to our villa and found that the storm had blown down two huge trees right in front of our villa. We climbed over them whilst being bitten by very angry Fire Ants on our feet and legs.

It was inspiring to see the town just getting on with cleaning up, when we woke the next day. There was still no power, but most things were running as before.

The three of us decided to kayak down to Vientiane, which is the capital of Laos. The day didn't turn out to be as much fun as the day before as we were given an inflatable kayak. If you've never been in one, it's like trying to paddle a bouncy castle down a river. Very hard work. Especially if you're at the back paddling, steering, and taking orders from Anna in the front. At one point in the river, there is a stretch of grade 1 rapids, which lasts about 20 seconds. Doesn't sound a lot, until you see it. Was scary stuff but we survived thanks to Riks paddling skills and Anna's navigational skills! For he final stretch into Vientiane we were cramped into a Tuk Tuk for a grueling 2 hours! Arrived in Vientaine after dark tired and hungry.

We only spent 2 night here, nice place but not as picturesque as Vang Vien. We chilled out for a couple of days, visited a couple of sights, drank beers, ate good food and pampered ourselves at the Papaya Spa. Anna had a lovely Swedish massage, and Rik went in for a traditional Laos massage. This was provided by a tiny Laos lady who had seemingly retired from professional wrestling and taken this up instead ! Oof.