Up early on Monday to find our tuk tuk waiting to take us to the bus station where we piled into the minvan that would take us to Vang Vieng. It was an uncomfortable 5 hours with Leanna and Nikki up front with the driver and zak packed in behind on a small fold down seat, but the scenery was beautiful as we passed through hillside villages and the mountains in Laos. When we arrived we found ourselves a riverside bungalow for a bargain price of 6 dollars a night and set out for the town. Got the impression this place is very laid back, the bars and restaurants don't have chairs but platforms covered in cushions where you can just chill out and watch tv. So we picked the first one we came to and settled down to watch some friends re-runs! On to the next place for dinner, which also took place laying down and watching family guy on the tv.

We woke up to a scorching hot day (jealous?) and began to rethink our plans for hiring pedal bikes to explore the caves. Decided instead to go for motorbikes! After a wobbly start, and Nikki worrying about what her dad would say if he knew, we eventually got the hang of it and set off in search of the elephant cave. Leannas run of bad luck, which started this morning with an ants nest in her bag, continued when she skidded on the gravel and got turfed off her bike. Despite some bad cuts and grazes she insisted she wanted to carry on so we roared off taking in the stunning landscapes of the namsong river and surrounding mountains. After stopping for directions numerous times we eventually arrives at the caves, paid for parking our bikes, paid to cross the river and were asked to pay for a guide which we politely refused. We were beginning to get annnoyed with giving money to everyone we met so decided we could fins the caves on our own. They had the last laugh though as when we got there we weren't allowed beyond the cave entrance unless we paid 30000kip each for someone to escort us through it! Back to our bikes and with Leannas bad luck continuing as her flipflops snapped and she had to ride back bare foot. Decided to spend the afternoon driving around Vang Vieng using up all the petrol we'd put in! Took a detour so Leanna could attend to the earlier wounds, where injury number 2 occurred as the bike fell on to her ankle which quickly started to swell up. Yet again she bravely insisted on carrying on so we rode around til sunset and headed home. Almost there when Leannas bike skidded down the hill to our hostel and she ended up on the floor again! This time the bike ended up worse off and we all went to bed praying the oil would stop dripping out before we took it back in the morning!

Zak and Leanna both woke up Wednesday feeling pretty dodgy so our day of tubing (floating down the river on tyres) was postponed in favour of sunbathing by the river. Don't know if it was zaks extremely spicy salad the night before or side effects of the malaria tablets but something was definitely wrong! Managed to dump the bikes and hurry down the road out of sight before they were inspected and found a wooden platform in the river to sunbathe on. Had a lazy day moving only for lunch which took place in hammocks at the side of the river! This place is definitely the most chilled out.

We start our journey to Vietnam tomorrow, 29 hours on a bus down to the capital of Laos and across to Hanoi...