The journey to Vang Vieng from Luang Prabang was really enjoyable - you hug the side of the mountain all the way and see some really spectacular views. As usual it is the people you see on the way that's most interesting - it seems so weird that all the villages are built up around the main road so there are children playing, animals roaming and people just generally conducting their everday life as trucks, buses, pickups and motorbikes all go thundering past. Whilst the villages clearly don't have any electric they do all appear to have water vats donated by UNICEF or World Vision where there was a world of activity going on - people bathing, children playing, washing clothes, prepaing food etc..

Vang Vieng has the most amazing backdrop and the Laos people have found the ultimate way to capitalise on it. You would probably bypass this town (stupidly because the scenery is second to none!) if it were not for the Laos people creating the 'Tubing' phenomenon. For 70,000 kip you hire a tractor tyre inner tube for a day and float down the Nam Song River being pulled into wooden makeshift bars dotted all the way down the river. The bars, as well as serving alcohol and pumping out music, have dangerous swings, slides and zip wires for the more adventurous (or should I say testosterone driven) punters. Unfortunately we didn't dare risk taking a camera on the trip so we have no first hand photos to show you - one of our group is going to post some on facebook though so we'll see what we can do! David did an absolute corker on the zip wire, I actually though he was a gonna, he didn't let go so when he hit the end of the line it nearly wrenched his arms out of their sockets and threw him in the air before he landed higgeldy piggeldy in the water. There were many red and bruised male bodies wandering around from bad landings in the water. All part of the fun though!