Laos

Wow so a bit to catch up on! After a mini bus ride to the Laos border (on which we met 2 nice girls, Jo and Kez) we then caught a 2 day slow boat to Louang Phobang. The slow boat consisted of two 8 hour journeys along the Mekong river. Not the comfiest journey ever but bearable and made it to Louang Phobang safe and sound! We booked into a 4 bed dorm room with Jo and Kez for a bargain price. The nightlife in Laos is not the greatest given that there is a 12pm curfew but we still made the most of the evenings there...lots of shots of Lao Lao and beer buckets!! unfortunately on the 2nd night I (Claire) had my wallet stolen while we were in a bar, could've been worse but still very annoying!! Anyway after that we were looking forward to leaving for Vang Vien Got a bus to Vang Vien and made our way along a very steep, bendy, mountain road...the buses often seemed like they were't gonna make it but the drivers were gifted engineers (or not...they just seemed to throw water onto the engine when it started smoking)! A few hours later and we arrived, found a nice guesthouse and settled in. Pretty quickly found that Friends is played around the clock in most of the bars and you can lay down and watch that any time!! When it rained we were forced to do that but on the better days we went tubing...it was so good we went twice and loved it both times! Lots of swinging off of rope swings into the river and struggling to swim back to the riverbank,drinking in the riverside bars (Beer Laos and buckets), getting stuck on the river in the pitch black etc!! We're both still aching now, Suz has 2 huge bruises, and we're covered in mosquito bites...but it was all worth it!! Sad to have left Vang Vien and the nice people we met there but off to Vietnam in 2 days so just killing time in Vientiane until we can cross over the border. Love to all and write on our wall!! C and S x x x