i nearly died yesterday, but I'll come to that in a minute because first of all, the day before, being Friday, I had one of the best days of my entire life!

We started with a 3 hour drive from Vietiane to Vang Vieng, the birthplace of the legendary river tubing pubcrawl. The group I was with however, decided they wanted to go kayaking, so i left them to it. I was given a rubber ring, and a dry bag for my things, and set off for a relaxing float down the river...next thing i hear is a whooosh, of a mentalist Australian flying over my head on a zip line form about 60 feet up, go crashing into the water! The first stop was no more than 100 yards from the starting point where I met a group of 5 aussie lads, and a few english and american too. The plan was then simple, to go 2km down the river in rubber rings, stopping off only to throw ourselves into the water from greater and greater heights, and dable in the local rice-whiskey. The pub crawl took us down stream through bumpy rapids, stopping off to play volleyball in the mud, and dance wildly in the river as it started to pour with rain. AMAZING.

My travelling group told me they were heading back to Vientiane and I would have to leave the wild shannigans behind at 3pm. I said no chance!! And told them I would try and meet them the following day at the Vietnamese border.That is where the problems began!

I found a hostel with the Aussies and left the next morning on the 6am bus hopeful to get back to Vientiane before the group left for the border. I didnt make it, so i was now pretty alone! The bus to the villiage left at 2pm, and it was a 7 hour drive, but i thought to myslef, "at least i'll get there in the end". Wrong. At about 6pm, the driver told me this was my stop, and turfed me off the bus before roaring off into the night. I had a sneaky suspicion that I wasnt altogether in the right place. Correct. I was in fact 70km from the villiage of Hin Boun, and no public transport even went there. The crossroads where i was dropped barely had lights, never mind accomodation, and I really thought I'd done myself in this time. I came across a small bar, and without exaggeration, only fully half an hour later, the people understood I was stranded. I had to beg for them to let me stay on the floor of their bar until morning so I could catch the same 7 hour bus back to Vientiane at 7am, and go from there. Luckily, they agreed, so I paid them generously before retiring to my 3rd world room, remembering to tuck my passprt and wallet under my pillow before I slept. I was scared!!!

All ended well though, as I am now back in Vientiane, and am booked on the 7pm bus to Hanoi where I will meet my group tomorrow. I am disappointed that I wont get to see Halong bay, but I will never forget friday for as long as I shall live.

x