We left the civilized Luang Prabang and headed to Vang Vieng.We arrived into absolute party town, not sure if it was because of the New Year or if it's always like that but there was music blasting, beer and Lao Lao flowing and lots of wet people dancing and spraying water.We did well to get to a guest house dump our stuff and join the party without all our belonging getting soaked.

I crossed the street from our guest house to the liveliest bar in town and got a bucket of water thrown over me, a hose sprayed at me and lots of water pistols sprayed.We met an Irish guy called Amo and quickly joined the party.It was a family run bar and the man was walking around the bar in a very funny dress with a water funnel feeding people Lao lao which is a nasty white spirit tasting a bit whisky like.As the evening drew in Amo took us down to the river side where we crossed a bamboo bridge and entered a lovely outdoor bar with little bamboo huts and hammocks all around.There were people asleep in some of the huts (probably after an afternoon sampling the happy tea available).WE settled into our hut, drank Lao Lao and red bull and some Canadian guys joined us, one of which being the smiliest person I have ever met in my life.The bar soon filled up and we headed to the next one which was the same but larger.After realizing it was probably a good tome to head back we somehow found our way.

The next day we went tubing, a good rope swing was just what I needed to cure the hang over.We floated 100m before stopping at the first bar, doing a zip wire and finding it hard to say no to a free shot of Lao Lao.We floated to the next bar and met up with Matt and the Canadians.There was a little accident with one of the swings there so we all got a little put off with the swings for a while.We floated to the next bar avoiding the swings and settled for a while.The place was full of local's young and old drinking beer and dancing.The next bar was the same but with a band playing and a big dance floor, of course I was straight up there dancing with them, I love it.The next bar again was full of locals dancing but this time the bar was in the water, I danced a lot their too.We did one last rope swing and floated off down the river. Darkness drew in quickly while we were still floating down, it was a beautiful sights seeing the dark shadows of the mountains and the dark sky lit up with stars and the moon giving us just enough light to continue.

A day of relaxing was needed in a bar watching lots of friends episodes the next day before setting off for Vietnam.

We arrived in Hanoi and had a fairly early night.The next day we took a boat tour around Ha Long Bay.The huge rock formations full of vegetation were amazing.We stopped at a floating village and some people bought some of the sea food for their lunch.

We had a lovely traditional lunch sitting with some Thai and Vietnamese people.After lunch we went to a huge cave with all sorts of rock formations, the guide said to use your imagination and tried pointing out animals and a man a women dancing.We sailed back through the beautiful rocks and back to Hanoi.That evening I sat in a roof top bar looking over the centre of Hanoi by the lake people watching and being amazed by the crazy traffic, at a par with India.I have had more of a culture shock arriving in South East Asia than I did arriving in India because of how westernized it has been but Vietnam really has made me feel like I am traveling again with a culture of its own.