So this morning would be our last in our long association with Vang Vieng. It would like be saying good bye to an old friend. Our pick up came at 8:30am after our noodle soup and would take us south to the Laos capital of Vientiane.

Compared to our recent bus journeys, this one was bliss! Only took the best part of three hours and actually had roads with straights..... and flat! I had forgot what these roads looked like. The bus driver could actually go over thirty miles per hour without the fear off falling into a chasm three hundred feet down.

Unlike most towns in Laos, the bus actually dropped us off in the centre. Not some bloody bus station ten miles out of town so the tuk tuk drivers can get even more stupidly richer by massively ripping you off! This was a good start... We lugged on our packs and headed off looking for digs whilst ignoring the flurry of tuk tuks that had appeared from no where. After a look at a couple of supposedly 'cheap' places it soon became blatantly clear that we would be paying the usual 'capital city premium' here. Most rooms which were wuthin our usual budget were boxes with a door and bed and a shared bathroom. I was not happy with this I can tell you.

On our way to find a good deal, the French influence in this capital was abundant. Coffee shops and cafes everywhere! Some selling coffee for three times the amount because the place looked a bit flash and called some French name. I would not be paying them prices I tell you that for a fact!

We were hot and frustrated until Laura stumbled on a place called the 'Youth Inn' which offered a room with private bathrooms for a reasonable rate. Thank god for that! Even got our own private little balcony area, well sort of... was just a place people hung their washing out to dry.

We had a look around the French quarter we were in and looked for some cheap coffee. We stumbled over a place which looked busy and was obviously hosting lunch for a western tour group. We sat down and ordered two hot coffees, both Lao style. This is when they add the sweet milk so it sits at the bottom of the glass, then you stir the coffee and milk together. Think of a Guinness would look like upside down in the pint glass and you get the idea. Unfortunately, our order came out as ice coffees with the milk already mixed in! It was firstly not what we ordered and as usual more expensive. I informed the lady of the mistake and she very politely said she would rectify it. Next thing Laura's coffee arrived in a very small mug which looked like a pebble dashed toilet after a heavy night. She just laughed ...saying this is Asia and began to stir the milk in that sat heavily at the bottom of the cup. On stirring she suddenly noticed there were numerous floating dead ants! These had obviously enjoyed a very 'sweet' death in the condensed milk tin and by stiring she has dispersed them throughout her drink. On top of this, my coffee never actually turned up. After Laura had picked out the seven ants, she drank the coffee reluctantly as she didn't want to make a fuss. We are used to Asia now after all these months, but ants in the coffee in a restaurant is a step too far. We courteously paid our bill and left the woman to concentrate on earning her fortune off the mass food ordering and beers from the tour group!

The first Vientiane coffee experience, in summary, was a sort of let down, but hey, it could only get better. It was therefore time to visit an old friend, someone who would not let you down.... BeerLao. No ants will find their way in them I tell you. Our search for beer and wi-fi started off in a wine bar, which as you can guess, was a very brief visit. They were offering buy one get one free on beer and we were obviously lured in, however the beers were fifteen thousand kip each for a small (you can buy a large for ten thousand kip) so the deal wasn't actually what it cracked up to be. We ended up buying some beer form the mini-mart after walking through what looked like a Chinese quarter. The pig trotters on sale with various other ailments that would make your stomach churn were on offer here. The language barrier was very evident as the servers would pretty much ignore you as they guess communication would be nigh on impossible.

We enjoyed our beers on the make shift balcony whilst watching the locals go about their business. We headed out later and found some cheap food from a local lady who was a little tight to say the least. It was similar to Thailand where you get a plate of rice and you can choose three dishes. I asked for fried chicken for my last choice and got one small wing, I nearly threw the plate back at her but I counted to ten and sat down... the food although barely there was tasty and you got a free soup and peanut, of which I ensure I munched the whole bowl.

After eating we headed down the riverfront where the evening market was being held. Various stalls were selling the usual kinds of wares and Laura was in her element. she managed to buy her sisters and mum the bracelets she wanted so was happy as she thought she had missed the opportunity. she also fell in love with a locally weaved elephant so after some haggling I secured it for her as a birthday present. Suddenly, the bright moonlit sky became dark and the wind suddenly picked up from no where. The locals were suddenly grabbing their wares and looked like they were packing up shop. That normally meant one thing... you are imminently going to get soaked. We made a hasty retreat to a bar nearby and bang on cue the monsoon style rains came pouring down. It hammered so loud on the aluminium roofing I couldn't hear Laura talking to me from across the table, luckily the shower was relatively brief for Laos standards and we could soon leave.

After our beer we returned to the room as we were feeling shattered where we read our books. However I guess I fell to sleep quickly as I remember little else after that........