The overnight mini bus ride had as expected, been pretty uncomfortable. The driver was in communication with one of his mates via Bluetooth for most of the trip. He also seemed quite tired which probably accounted for the 3 coffees and 3 red bulls he drank and whatever pick me up he kept taking with his friend every hour or so. The bus stopped a total of seven times, which I think was again, to stop him falling asleep.

Just after dawn we arrived at the border crossing which is a bridge connecting Thailand and Laos over the Mekong River. The visa on arrival process was surprisingly straight forward and didn't get ripped off thankfully. We waited for the bus to arrive but were herded onto the back of a local pick up truck and headed for the centre of the Laos capital, Vientiane.

There was an hour lay over before our next bus and I went searching for food with Kratos who had been here before. He recommended sandwiches in Laos as they actually use crusty, savoury baguettes. We purchased one filled with chicken, liver pâté, vegetables and this random pork fluff!? It was delicious and the baguettes were warm which gave it a nostalgic feeling of home.

It was hot now so we returned to be bus and soon enough headed north to Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng first became popular on the backpacker trail in the 1970's were it was synonymous with hippies obtaining a somewhat cult status. In the late 1990's a craze called 'tubing' started which would eventually place Vang Vieng in infamy for a long time. The quiet little town sits right on the Nam Song river which stretches up Laos. A local farmer created the idea of riding a floatable tube down the river from up north back to the town itself, to keep his travelling volunteers entertained in down time. This started the phenomenon of tubing. Its popularity grew with backpackers and the locals saw the potential money making opportunities. Before long bars started springing up along the river selling very strong, cheap booze sometimes even laced with drugs. This turned Vang Vieng into party central and zip lines were placed over the river along with slides and jumping points. Infamy was created through the staggering number of deaths that started occurring. Mostly due the deadly mix of alcohol and drugs, combined with water, fast currents and hidden rocks beneath the surface ...with a little sprinkle of stupidity and testosterone. In 2011, there were a reported 22 deaths in high season alone which is colossal. It wasn't just the deaths which was reportedly destroying the town's image. Drunken and drugged up tourists would disrespect local values by walking around naked, in bikinis, being sick in the streets, damaging property etc. I think the locals were in a difficult situation due the amount of money they were making through the huge back packed surge.

It wasn't until a young Australian died recently who happened to be the son of a high ranking QC that things changed. The Australian family tried to sue the Laos government for negligence which lead to a drastic, somewhat scared reaction from the Laos officials. They gave a weeks notice to all the bars on the river to close indefinitely, if they didn't demolish themselves, the government would do it for them. As expected the local people were raging as the tourist trade was their livelihood but the government took no heed to this at all. This all happened last autumn and now Vang Vieng looks very different as there are only two bars on the river with very strict regulations. All the slides and zip lines are gone and all that is left is the recent memory of the craziness that occurred here.

We arrived in the town at 3pm and soon settled in a guesthouse which Kratos had eyed up on his previous visit. We were soon settled in with the air conditioning cooling us down. Looking out the window you could be the misty mountains behind the river which looked stunning. I went for a little walk to find an ATM but it was far too hot and I soon came running back to the cool room. Due to our trip last night we were both tired and decided to take a nap... Only after Laura did our washing in a bucket in the bathroom.

The next thing I remember is being woken by flashes in the room. Laura had woke up to the sound of thunder and told me there was a amazing thunderstorm outside and she had to rescue the washing as the wind was getting strong. On asking the time it was 10pm, We had been asleep for six hours already. Instead of admiring the lightning we must of feel asleep again as we didn't stir again till morning.