Vang Vieng & Vientiane

Well... I've not done much since my last blog really but I thought I should update today bcs I'll probably forget it all by the time I get to Vietnam!

We left Luang Prabang for Vang Vieng in a minivan style thing on Monday. We were told it was a 5 hour drive but ended up taking 7 1/2 but we have come to expect that!!! We sat at the back of the bus.. thinking we had scooped up the best seats but we quickly learned that this was not the case!!! The roads are terrible in Laos and it was pot holes galore and we were swinging around the mountains at the speed of light. Not a very relaxing journey but we did drive right up through the hills and I was very surprised to see so many little villages right up at the top!!! It was lovely just to drive through and wave at the kids and see their little smiling faces so happy that we had acknowledged them!!! It really made me realise how lucky I am. When we were right at the top these villages were so so basic... just lieterally wooden huts with a stream flowing through it for them to wash in. Their clothes were like rags but they were still out there spreading their rice to dry in the sun and they didn't look particularly unhappy either! The more you have.. the more you want hey!!!

Anyway... we arrived in Vang Vieng which is a lovely little town next to the Nam Song river on one side and stunning limestone cliffs/rocks on the other. Now I have heard this place be described as 'the fun capital of Asia'!!! There IS alot to do there, e.g. TUBING!, caving, rock climbing, kayaking and rafting.. but I dont think we stayed long enough to decide if this statement is true!!! Most of the bars here look like massive beds with pillows and all where you just lye down and watch Friends on tv!!! I cant help thinking this place must have lots its soul a little bit once the backpackers got here and took over with Friends, drinking and 'happy shakes'!!! But it is such a beautiful place.... and when you have been on a bumpy cramped bus for 7 and a half hours it is quite nice to lye down and watch some Friends - especially when you see one you've never watched before!!! YES SIS!!! IT DID HAPPEN!!!

Anyway - the next day we got out to to tubing at about 1.30pm. This was a mistake it turns out as we got held up in the bars at the start of the river and didn't make the last ones bcs the sun had gone down and it was too cold and dark :(! Anyway... we rented our 'tubes' (just inflatable rubber rings) and were piled into a tuk tuk (you could not have even squidged a piece of paper next to my bum) and were carted off to the launching point along the river! There was a bar at the start so we decided to have a swift one for the road (river) before we started!!! I had a mojito which was YUMMY and cheap! Then we got in our tubes and floated along the river to the next bar where we signalled to the men at the side who threw ropes/bamboo sticks for us to catch, they then dragged us in. Mike got straight on the buckets as per usual.. I took one sip and nearly gagged... his speciality - Lao Lao whisky (bloody strong), M150 (syrup style energy drink) and coke... absolutely revolting. I just had a beer and we just sat out chatting with some lovely ppl and sunning ourselves and watching crazy people jumping from VERY high swings and zip lines into the river!!! At the start I was like 'NO WAY.. that's too dangerous' but after my beer and after watching about 20 people on it i thought ... i want a go!!! Mike was too scared (think he has vertigo-seriously-he did not look well at the top of that waterfall the other day) - so i decided to show him up and do it!!! and not just once... TWICE!!! although on the second atttempt i flung myself off right at the highest point-bad move-my bikini top was somewhere around my neck when i emerged and i was trying to swing against the current to get back to the bank of the river!! not a good look!

Mike conveniently didn't get a photo of me in motion on the swing but i think secretly he didn't want proof that i outdid him!! HAHA ! Got one of me just about to jump though!! Photo's coming soon. We basically just floated along the river and stopped at a few more bars.. one with a MASSIVE slide and more zip wires and swings galore... i stopped drinking after 2 as alcohol and the sun on my huge forehead are not a good mix. Also i had to look after Mike who was suddenly falling around, slurring and all sorts! There was a big mud volleyball game going on at one of the bars but we missed that... getting too carried away on the zip lines!! By about 5pm the place was just full of drunken idiots running around dancing, talking crap and signing... i was ready to go!!! There was talk of a part that evening but we didn't actually make it there. Mike was in a bad way... i am putting it down to the Lao Lao buckets but he insists that his drink was spiked. Drugs are big in Vang Vieng u see and u have to be very careful what they put into them... i stuck with beer to be safe!!! Such a good girl!!!

Anyway.. we made our way across the river to where teh tuk tuk drivers pick u up to take u back to the top. if you bring your tubes back by 6 you get 60,000 kip deposit back.... but beware... the tuk tuk drivers will take forever sorting out who is in which one in order to get you there past 6 and then you only get 40,000 kip back.. cheeky. We left at 5.30 and it was only a 5 min drive and we were still late. Mike had darted off and left me to take our tubes back, get our deposits, take back our dry bag and pick up our things. I was worried as Icouldn't find him ANYWHERE... i decided to go back to our guesthouse as I thought he may be waiting there but i had the key. I got there and he was tucked up in bed! He was in a bad way though, i could hardly understand anything he was saying. We had a rest but i was woken at about 8.30 to him scrabbling around the room saying he wanted to go for a walk and just generally not well at all. We wanted to go to the river for some strange reason but i wouldn't let him... i KNOW he would have fallen in... or jumped!!! He calmed down by about 11. I dont know if it was just drink or something else but be careful if you ever do tubing in Vang Vieng ok!!!

The next day we rounded up some troops that we had met and decided to get the bus to Vientienne.. i think Mike wanted to put this little episode behind him and move on!!! I do regret not going kayaking bcs it looked so fun going down that river (same place as the tubing) and also there were some brilliant caves there to see but we decided to move on anyway.

The bus to Vientiane took 4 hours (advertised as 3) and was quite a nice journey really. Lots to look at - the scenery here is fantastic! It was hilarious when we came to leave for the bus though. We had booked at this little restaurant place and had our bags all stacked up outside. A small minivan pulled up and we were told to get in... we spent a good 5 minutes getting all the bags on top on the van and rearranging the seats (they had great big nails sticking out of them & the cushion things were all over the floor!!). Once we were all on we set off.. thinking it must be at least a 10 min drive to where the actual bus goes from... well.... we literally drove for 10 seconds up the road and he stopped to let us out!!! The bus stop was like 4 shops along!!! It was SOOOOOOOOOO funny!!! They love doing things the long way round in Laos!!! Also.. we had booked the 'VIP' bus!!! Not because we wanted the best bus but bcs it was actually the cheapest!! God knows why they called it a VIP bus.. the only thing we could think of is the fact that it had some tacky chandelier style lights on the ceiling!! But everything else was moth holes and bugs!!!

We arrived here in Vientiane and walked around for the best part of an hour to find a guesthouse. Turns out they are much more expensive here than elsewhere in Laos... capital city syndrome. We found somewhere with a shared bathroom for slightly more than we were paying before but it'll do.. we thought. We arrived back that night to find an ant infestation ALL OVER the bed... I tought i had shaken of the ants in Thailand but noooooo.. this was bad!! We had to strip the bed and put our sheets down et c...i still managed to sleep though.. until we were woken at 2am by a drunk Irish girl we had met the night before asking us if her TV was keeping us up... !!! IDIOT!!! NO .. YOU BANGING ON MY DOOR AT 2AM IS KEEPING ME UP!!!

The first night here it was a full moon which meant that Vientiane was holding the That Luang Festival. Hundreds of monks come from all over teh country to receive alms. There are fireworks and celebrations late into the night. We gathered our friends Guy & Carl and made our way up there. Well... we were'nt quite prepared for it... it was HUGE!!! There were these massive stages with people dancing, singing, rapping etc and then at the back - around the Pha That Luang - the most important national monument in Laos - there were LOADS of monks blessing people and people laying down flowers and praying etc. It really was an amazing display and Pha That Luang looked absolutely stunning as it got dark. However... as we were walking around.. we began to notice that we were sticking out like a sore thumb... we were practically the only westerners there!!! we were getting strange looks from lots of people and i began to feel very uncomfortable... it's a bit unfortunate really this next experience - we were walking in this kind of market section and just walking around when one of the locals brushed past me and kind of grabbed my leg. It scared me as I was already feeling v on edge and didn't let my hand off my bag for one second. Me and Mike left after that and ended up bumping into these lovely ppl from Surrey!!! We went for a beer along the river front and relaxed which was nice! I'm glad we went but I did feel a bit out of my depth there!

So - we are here in Vientiane - arranged our Vietnam visas and picked them up this morning and are booked onto a bus to Hanoi which leaves at 5pm! This will without a doubt be the most testing journey of my travels - a 24 hour bus journey!! But i will be well prepared! We are going to take loads of food, i have my lonely planet and another book i bought from a little book shop here, and my ipod... which only lasts for about 4 hours but hey!!!

Vientiane is lovely but you really only need 2 or 3 days here i think. Pha That Luang is brilliant and Patuxai - the Arc de Triomphe replica is lovley too.. there are all these musical fountains behind it too which are great to walk along. Other than that.. i love the riverside bars & restaurants...!! Last night I sat with a Beer Lao watching the sun set over the river and it was seriously the most amazing sun set i've ever seen!!! I hope to have many more! Couldn't take my eyes off it! This is however THE most relaxed and laid back capital city i could ever imagine...! No tall skyscraper buildings and no constant hectic buzz of traffic, although the tuk tuk drivers are out in full force. There are like 3 nightclubs here (which we didn't actually sample for ourselves) and all the bars seem to close up by 11pm! Feels like a bit of a ghost town after 12pm. Very strange compared to Bangkok!

Anyway - we have just waited ONE HOUR in a small restaurant for them to make 2 tuna salad baguettes which never actually arrived... we got so sick of waiting we just paid for a our drinks and went... they hadn't even started making them! I have grown very fond of Laos but i WILL NOT miss waiting hours for my food!!!!! HAHAAHH! Ooh that reminds me... we thought we better order some traditional Lao food so we decided on a spicy papaya salad and some white spring rolls... well - the papaya salad was BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF HOT and the white spring rolls were just like one big fat noodle with a bit of mint leaf in it..!! I am missing thai food SO much now! Hopefully I will enjoy Vietnamese food more.. although the fruit shakes and the baguettes cannot be beaten!!!

So we are off to Hanoi 2night.. where we are going to spend a couple of days and then make our way over to Halong Bay to do a boat cruise! SO excited!

Oh just one more little fact that I wanted to share with you (just as i'm leaving so as not to worry you mum & dad!!) Did you know that Laos is the most bombed country in the world!!!! AND - there are still 10 million unexploded cluster bombs hanging around!!! Lucky I didn't venture into the unknown and step on one of those b*****s hey!!!

Until then....

Au revoi!!!

Miss you all and hope everyone is well and good!

Ems

xxxxxx