Hello everyone :)

We are now in Vietnam but first I will just say a little bit about Laos...

We left my dad at the boarder and got a coach over friendship bridge. In savannakhet it was one word...BAKING!!! We felt like we were in the desert. any movement resulted in a sweat and we had no energy at all. There is not much to do there either, so we chilled out in our guest house and played cards in cafes. Poor and homeless children would beg as we ate our pancakes for breakie. it was heart breaking!! We had a lot of time to kill until our night bus and with such heat, we hung out in the internet cafe with the aircon. we certainly did not mind waiting in the que for a computer. Seriously, it was the hottest day so far!

The night bus was interesting...they guy behind paul was snoring so loud. with an ipod between 2, the other ear was filled with a finger. The driver kept coughing up flem, which made us all gag everytime, then in the mid of the night he decides to put on his awful music, it was like a disco. We were not amused! We finallyarrived in Vientiane at about 6am, but there was one problem, we had no money. And of course it was a sunday, no banks were open and the exchange places did not work till 8 am. Our cards were not working. So we sat, looking like trampos and homeless outside a bakery, pining at everyone eating their deliscious croissants. evenuallymoney was sorted and we went to bed!

Laos history museum has to be a highlight just to see the difference between a museumout here and one in london. it was awful, and so hot. vientienne was really busy and full of travellers, situated on the mekong river with night markets an cheap restaurants. We had a nice time there, and visited a few more temples.

Next stop was Vang Vieng...the one we had been waiting for. This started with a day of being conned. On the tuk tuk to the bus station, then paying high prices on the bus for a crappy one. We wanted to go on the local bus, and pay local prices, but they always see the fair and blonde hair coming!! We got on the bus and there was a scabby pair of ladies undies on the seat...yuck!!! There wereplenty of stops too, i swear the bus driver was doing all of his jobs and shopping on the way. But we arrived, and we were confused. Everyone was walking around injured!! This was not a good look! :)

Vang Vieng is where we go tubing. It is where you rent a big inflatable ring and float down the river. But also there are bars along the way, up on stilts, giving free shots, buckets of alcohol and playing some tunes. Zip wires where you plummet into the river. It was awesome!! So much so that we did it again the next day!! We were lucky not to get injured tho, the health and safety is zero and the stories going around were terrifyling! It was such a great atmosphere though, meeting other travellers. Definatly a highlight. Carry did a back flop of a zip wire and Paul did one that must have reached 60ft high. The mushrom shakes made us feel wierd, but not good. I got heavy ear lobes and tinglyfingers and felt like I could not get up!!

Vang vieng was such a tourist place,with bars playing friends on repeat etc. It looked awful but it was just what we felt like after so long away from home.

Our next day was a full day travelling to Lung Probang. We were promised a vip bus with air con as that was what we paid for...but you guessed it, it was a banged up bus. But the funny thing was, everyone was foreign on the bus,so everyone got conned. So we were all in the same situation. It was windlybends for about 8 hrs. Carry and I on the asile seats we exhausted from just holding ourselves in our seats, while paul snuggled by the window! typical :) I was a horrible journey but Lung Probang was really nice, so well worth it. There we visited some beautiful waterfuls,so cold though the swimming in them did not last long. Dinner for 50p that night was a bargin :) Lung probang was our place to chill and do jobs...washing!!

Laos was so relaxed and chilled out, we certainly were not ready for the crazy city of hanoi in north vietnam!!!