The next day was a well deserved lie in and exploration of the quaint town of Luang Prabang where the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers converge at a peninsula. Gorgeous. Headed out in the evening to the master Hive Bar of which the other one in Pak Beng was a small sister concern. We were quite happy for the 11.30pm Luang Prabang curfew this time as the trip had been quite tiring so far. That was before we met some Aussie girls who convinced us to whisper the magic word "discotheque" to a tuc tuc driver and before we knew it, we, some members of the wolf pack, Dan and Matt from the UK and Kiwi Dave were on our way to some underground rave full of both backpackers and locals partying the night away. Well I say night but it closed by 1.30pm and no one was in the mood to head home. More drinking followed in a street restaurant, shubs discovered a strange fizzy red wine drink for us and Dan found the best noodle soup we have had to date! When they threw us out we were back at the wolf pack's hostel where paddy decided to pull out his strobe light (an essential item when travelling apparently) and contraband vodka (aka stolen from the fridge with shubs as an accomplice!) Needless to say the walk of shame back to our hostel at 7.30am whilst passing tourists up early to seize the day, school kids and people heading to work was embarrassing to put it mildly!

Nevertheless the troopers that we are, we got a couple of hours of kip, hired bikes and rode around the town for most of the rest of the day followed by a spot of shopping in the night market and an early night to catch the 8am bus to the famed Vang Vieng. A very scenic ride (if not a little treacherous due to rain) through the mountains followed. Met some kiwi boys on the bus who taught us a game called contact 1-2-3, which helped kill an hour or so. Arrived settled in and went out to explore what is essentially a backpackers haven full of riverside bars. Ended up initially at Jackies bar where we were enticed in by Aussie Tom who ensured us that the curry was the best he'd had. Needless to say it was a big lie! Jackie was a Laotion man who was so laid back he was almost horizontal and it took him over 2 hours to serve us food ( which involved him leaving the bar and asking me and Dan to look after it while he was away). So within 15 mins of meeting Jackie I find myself behind a bar serving drinks to other tourists and enticing other travelers off the street, surreal. Thinking he would be back shortly we took our bar duties very seriously until an hour passed and no sign of jackie and very rumbly tummies. Free shots were then handed out with beers encouraging more custom at what was now effectively our bar! Eventually jackie shows up with his sister in law in tow to cook our food ( 2 hours after we'd ordered it) and insisted on us having free drinks for the rest of the night. I tried to give good old Jackie some business advice and tips as to why his business may be failing but he was more interested in getting me to come to his house and marry him and settle in Laos. Saying he was a character would be putting it mildly.

We ate and headed to rock bar across the river with a couple of our kiwi friends. A big log fire burned and everyone danced the night away while some of the drunker participants skipped on skipping ropes that were alight and jumped through fire hoops. A surefire way to third degree burns but no one seemed to care. Ended up in q bar bumping into Jonnie who was too drunk to know where he was and Dave from the wolf pack in a similar state. Painted our faces and joined in the fun, if you can't beat 'em.......

The next day was the day of "tubing" which is why everyone comes to VV. This consists of floating down the Nam Song river in a rubber inflatable tube whilst being pulled into various bars along the way by the owners of those bars throwing ropes at you which you have to catch, re-fueling and then continuing on your way and making new friends as you go. Along the way are bars with death slides and swings into the river and all sorts of antics take place. Muchos fun was had despite the water being quite cold and the tuc tuc ride back was literally a huddle of bodies trying not to catch hypo-thermia.

Went out for dinner that night and remember remarking that my food tasted like dog bolognaise. Famous last words, was sick as a dog for the next 24 hours. :( awful but survived.

The following day was a 3 hour bus trip to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. A quaint town full of french style bistros. Wish I hadn't felt so rough. Dropped like a fly at the hotel in readiness for the flight to Vietnam the next day and that is where we currently are, freezing our butts off! Vietnam installment will follow soon....

Important things learned to date:

- Flip flops are called thongs in Australia and jandals in New Zealand
- Aussies do not like to f*** spiders and prefer getting a monks tit
- Kiwis still think we use the term "bonkers" on a daily basis (thanks dizzee rascal!)
- We are mainly known out here as Rabs and Shavi
- Shubs has a habit of leaving her pyjamas in every country and is now on her third set
- Aussies call Americans "sepos"=septic tank=full of s***
- It is impossible to play screen mash on the i-pad without pulling a spaz face
- Seaweed pringles are green and rock our world
- We never thought we would appreciate hot showers as much as we do!
- Shubs found it hilarious to keep shouting 'rubber dinghy rapids bro!' whilst tubing (those of you who have watched 4 Lions will get it)