Where do we start? Laos has been an up and down experience. It all began with a overnight mini bus to Vientiane, the capital. Not the most comfortable of journeys I must say but we managed to sleep and before we knew it we were crossing the border.

Vientiane

Vientiane doesnt look or feel anything like a capital. it's a sleepy little place full of french cafes and once you've done one that's pretty much it. It certainly puts the saying "don't expect anything to happen quickly in Laos" into perspective. We checked into our first dorm that night and met a few good people. One guy from Derbyshire who was heading to Thailand, an Aussie couple, one English guy, and another guy from New Jersey who were also heading up to Vang Vieng so we planned to meet them there. After one night we decided Vientiane wasn't lively enough so we hopped on a bus up to Vang Vieng, and the fun began.

Vang Vieng

Vang Vieng was stunning, a little town situated in the middle of the mountains with the Mekong river running through. As soon as we arrived we knew we were staying for a while, it was so relaxing and peaceful...until that night when I (Alix) recieved my first round of Laos food poisoning which I can only assume came from the street barbeque we'd eaten in Vientiane....word of warning never put a ducks beak in your mouth, it's full of bacteria. Luckily it only lasted a night and I was back to health the next day, just in time for the Aussie couple Alex and Mark and Dave the English guy we'd met in Vientiane to arrive. They brought another Aussie Nick and two Aussie girls Ellie and Charlie along with them so there was a pretty good group forming - perfect for tubing :) so we planned that for the next day.

Tubing was hilarious, and it's such a shame they shut down all the bars as it would have been even better had they still been there. The idea is to buy your alcohol before and pop them into "dry" bags to carry along with you. Dry here being a ridiculous word as they immediately filled with water the minute you got on the river. It took around 3 hours for us to get down, trying our best to stay attached the whole way. If it wasnt for Rambo Mark we wouldn't have managed it. Lucky for us there was one bar open so we pulled ourselves to the side to have a break. Now, if anybody here knows of liam's "great" balancing skills you'd be able to imagine the next scene vividly. Everyone else managed to get themselves to the side and out onto the steps with no bother. Liam on the otherhand made it look like he was climbing mount everest with moon boots on. He got to the side no problem but getting out of the tube involved flipping himself upside down so the whole contents of his dry bag fell into the river and then further falling up the steps. I mean seriously how hard can it be!!? He then replayed this scene when it was time to finish tubing and lost his sunglasses. (He really is Karl Pilkington).

The following day, we visited the blue lagoon and I learnt my first skill of the trip - to ride a moped/motorbike :) The blue lagoon was gorgeous and we spent the day there sunbathing and swimming - until Nick lost his bike key in the water and had to send a Laos man in to find it....which he did, how I have no idea as the water wasn't at all clear. We decided as a group that the next day we'd get a bus to Luang Prabang...where the next account of drama's began.....

Luang Prabang

To start the bus journey, although beautiful, was the bumpiest ride of our lives, even worse for Nick who had food poisoning and was being sick out of the window most of the journey...he seemed to be very proud of his artwork along the side of the bus. We arrived in Luang Prabang 6 hours later and headed straight for our dorm and arranged to visit an Orphanage that Charlie's mum sponsered the next day. It was a great eye-opening visit and was so nice to hear about the children and how their lives were made better by living there. After spending some time with the kids and the teachers we headed back for our first big night out and the all famous night bowling.

What a night!! What a messy night. After dinner we headed to Utopia and a few buckets of Laos Vodka, and bottles of beer later it was time for drunk late-night bowling. We were all terrible as you'd expect, most only managing a maximum of 60 points.

The great night would have ended there but then the vomiting began. One by one 4 out of the 8 of us (myself, Ellie, Alex and Mark) were getting up to be sick. At first it was pretty funny and I was blaming the Laos vodka, but 2 hours later when it was still happening and the vomiting was getting more and more severe the laughter stopped. To this date I think we can all agree that we have never ever been that sick in our entire lives. It got to 7am and whilst nearly passing out on the floor we realised it was time to get to a hospital. Out came the drips, out came the drugs and we were diagnosed with severe food poisoning. It wasnt one of my finer moments I must say, sitting on a toilet, half naked and vomiting on the floor isnt attractive. They say travelling with a partner allows you to see them at your worst and your best....Liam has most certainly seen me at the height of my worst. Plus you know you've lost of dignity when you're sitting naked on a toilet because you've pooed yourself, :( and a Laos nurse comes in, points at it, and gets a cleaner to come and spray your room with bleach and then gives you hospital clothing to wear.

Liam's account of that day was just as hellish but from a different perspective. We were due to fly to Vietnam the next day so he spent the morning and afternoon, changing flights, calling hostels, collecting our bags from the hell dorm and speaking to family, all while coming back and forth to the hospital to see me. I'm sure he has a few things to say about how his day was too.

All is well now you'll be glad to hear...and we're looking forward to leave Lethal Laos. It's a beautiful country but you need to be so careful with what you eat. I learnt that TWICE.

We're off to Vietnam in about 5 hours...although to end this post with one final piece of drama...we've just realised our visa valid date is the 11th so our next post could be telling you all about our 2 day sleepover at the airport.

xxxxx