We are back in Vientiane and we succesfully got our Vietnam visas processed within five minutes, amazing what a few extra dollars will do!! With only one full day to see the city we restricted ourselves to a walking tour from the riverfront, around the presidents palace and up to Laos version of the Arc de Triumphe. The arch was set in a pleasant park with some nice ornamental fountains, plus you could walk to the top of the arch. Liz didn't want to because she ...

Hello all, We arrived in the Capital of Laos, Vientiane, all ready to get our visas for Vietnam from the embassy, however when we arrived we found it closed due to their new year celebrations! We decided that instead of waiting around for four days we would go south to Tha khaek, a small town recommened to us and definately off the beaten track. After a long ride on a local bus filled with luggage from floor to celing, we finally arrived into a dusty bus statio...

Hello all, We arrived excitedly in the tubing capital of Laos, Vang Vieng. We had a great time tubing down the Nam Song, and even tried out some of the crazy slides and rope swings into the river (Liz was as brave as the boys)! We also packed in a day of tubing through beautiful caves, where we saw crystal formations and plenty of stalactites! We spent one afternoon kayaking along the river, showing off our skills to the uncoordinated Chinese in our group who ...

Hello again, We crossed the border into Laos early on sunday morning and caught a slow boat bound for Luang Prabang. The boat sailed down the gorgeous mekong river for two days, stopping overnight in a weird little village called Pak Beng. Liz saw elephants on the banks of the river, sadly this was during the two minutes that Dale went to the loo in the 7 hour journey! We finally arrived in Luang Prabang, a pretty city with a French architectural flair, altho...