So having realised that Vientiane is the smallest, quiest, probably dullest capital city I've ever been to, and I'm fairly sure I can vouch for Jade on that one too, we decided to head off North to Vang Vieng as soon as possible. We haven't really done any research on Laos and are taking everything by ear, which we're finding to be a great way to do it so far. After sleeping for longer than I probably should have, and then taking a long time to pack, once again...

We were rudely awoken at 6.00 in the morning and told to get off the coach with our passports and coach tickets which took a lot of effort on both our parts since we had had two nights of lousy sleep on coaches and were both very tired. We got off and gave in our passports so they could check there validity before croosing the border into Laos. Phil looked as if he had fallen back to sleep again on a table behind me while i introduced myself to a girl called Clai...