Luang Prabang aside, and maybe not even, Vang Vieng was the place in Laos we'd heard about most frequently, prior to arriving. And Vang Vieng tubing vests must be the most commonly worn garment we've seen on Westerners in South East Asia. You might love it or hate it, or love it and hate it, the Lonely Planet told us. Well, reservations placed to one side, we figured one has to find out about places for one's self. And I would say we liked it and loathed it. Per...

Sara and Matt left us the same day we arrived in Vientiane, on the 25th. And great fun as it had been travelling in a team of four for a while, Paula and I had also very much been looking forward to a couple of days of recuperation (which translates to basically doing nothing), having virtually moved non-stop since leaving Siem Reap three weeks earlier. Which is exactly what we did, hence I have very little to write about our time in Vientiane! Despite having the...

Paula decided to hunt for the diary. She had had it on Don Det, but hadn't taken it on our motorbike loop, so deduced that she must have left it either in Pakse or at our overnight stop following the infamous thirteen hour bus journey. A small town called Tha Beng, that we'd have to reach again anyway, to then continue north to Vientiane, a further four or five hours by bus. She managed to phone the guesthouse in Pakse, from the guesthouse in Ban Khoum Khan that...

No rest, we journeyed straight on the next morning towards Ban Khoum Khan, the usual overnight stopping point for the renowned Kong Lo caves. It was a memorable journey! Conscious that buses didn't leave that early, we didn't go to pick up tickets until the morning of travel, and with many miles to cover, we opted for the "VIP" bus (air con, minimal stops, a capacity that can actually be reached) over a local one (none of the above). Normally, we wouldn...

The final leg of our motorbike loop took us over the Bolaven Plateau, which we'd circled around the north side of on days one and two. And what a ride it was! Spoilt by flat, asphalt roads up to this point, we expected no different all the way back to Pakse, and with an early 8am start and under two hundred kilometres to cover, I was thinking we might even be back there for a late lunch. Oh no, not a chance. At the point we turned off the main road to climb up on...