We left Luang Prabang at 7am - in another minivan, I'm pretty sure the driver was suicidal - his driving was crazy. It took about 6 hours to get to Vang Vieng - the road snakes high up amongst the mountains, it's a very picturesque drive amongst the clouds but we spent most the time praying we would survive!

We had been to Vang Vieng on our last trip in 2007 - and had absolutely loved it there, we had been tubing down the river (literally sitting in a big tube floating) and been on a kayacking trip. Since our last trip and up to late 2012 - the tubing craze in Vang Vieng went a bit crazy as in lots of bars were set up along the river (there were a few in 2007) and the bars had big rope swings and slides into the rocky river, the bars supplied lots of cheap alcohol and drugs and this resulted in something awful like 27 deaths in one year and hundreds of accidents. In late 2012 the government wanted to clean up it's image and with alot of pressure from the australian government (a high proportion of the deaths were australians) they decided to rip down all of the riverside bars and a few more bars that were on a small island over a bamboo bridge. So Vang Vieng once was hugely popular - and with the amount of tourists coming in guesthouses went up everywhere- now with the decline in the debauchery there are lots of half built hotels and guesthouses. It was barely recognisable from when we came last time, we remembered sitting in a riverside bar overlooking the limestone peaks and walking along a semi rural road into the tiny centre. Now it's just ugly concrete everywhere, idiots roaring around on quad bikes and lots of shops selling condoms. It also had a rather depressing feel to it.

We had two nights here, Eleanor and Carolyn went kayacking and Rich went for a trek up a mountain. Me and Kam felt a bit restless and wish we hadn't come back to Vang Vieng! It's such a shame as the surrounding area is just beautiful but the town is like an ugly blemish.