Woke up with a sore head once again - was awake at 8am as well, too early. Therese was snoozing away until 9.30am!
We didn't have anything planned out for today so didn't rush around too much for a change. Once I was ready I just went and chilled out on the benches at the guesthouse, sat in the sun next to a little fountain with a pond and wrote some blogs. Was nice and quiet - not really had chance to do that since we've been away.

We headed out to get some brunch, and just wandered around a few streets to find somewhere - there's so many nice places to choose from. We also went down to have a look at the river - really amazing views with mountains in the background. We absolutely love it here. I am going to say that a lot! It's just so chilled and the scenery is stunning and all around you.

We stopped off at the Swedish Bakery for some food. I had a set meal which came with omelette, a big flat bread, a bagel with jam and butter, fruit salad with yogurt, orange juice and a coffee...yeah, I was pretty full after all that and it only cost 36,000 Kip (£2.80). Therese just had fruit salad and yogurt with an orange juice. She pinched some of mine though.

After filling our boots (mainly mine), we went and booked our bus to Vang Vieng with Stray travel. They're the same company that we've booked a hop on & off bus with in New Zealand. They've just started up in Laos, so are running some pretty good special offers - we've got half price bus tickets at $10 each. The other local tour companies are charging about $15. So it's cheaper with Stray plus we have a tour guide and have 2 scenic stop offs on the way. Brand new bus too.
They've got 2 for 1 bus tickets for doing a bit of extended travel in Laos. We're thinking of possibly coming back to Laos because the weather is so bad around the islands in Thailand. We're going to keep an eye on the weather, but we would love to come back to Laos anyway!

Therese had a dickey tummy so went to sit and relax in a cafe reading a book, while I hired a bike and went around town. I went to the opposite side of town to where we're staying. There's some more guest houses and restaurants and is more of a residential area. I headed back towards the main area via a different route and stumbled across some signs for a bar we've heard about called Utopia. The signs took me through some alleyways, over a short wooden bridge, through some more alleyways and then finally to Utopia. WOW, this has got to be one of the best bars ever. The first area has lots of low tables and seats with those Shish things on, and lots of long chill out chairs. It was really quiet and I thought i was the only person there. Then I walked into the back area. There were about 20 or so people just chilled out - reading, on laptops, laying down relaxing, sleeping or just sat admiring the view. It was like a huge veranda that's built with bamboo and has open views of the Mekong river and mountains. There's no barriers or railings in the way spoiling the view. It was so quiet and peaceful even with all the people there. Everyone was just sat back relaxing doing there own thing. I took some pictures and definitely want to come back here at some point for some relaxation time.

I headed back after about one and a half hours to meet Therese in the cafe - Swedish Bakery again. We relaxed for a short while in there and then set off to make our way up Mount Phousi to watch the sunset. It's a steep climb but it's all stone steps leading up to the top - takes about 20 minutes. Mount Phousi is right in the centre of the town - it's really steep and only covers a small area. Then there's a temple at the top. The views over the whole of the town and right into the distance are really amazing and incredibly picturesque. There's the huge winding Mekong River running around the town, lots of lush greenery like palm trees and then lots of mountains in the distance. The views were absolutely beautiful! I can't really describe how nice - try have a look on Google Images.

We were a bit hot and sticky because it was really warm at the top of Mount Phousi, so went back for a shower and got changed, then went out to get some tea. I was going to pass out if I didn't eat soon - we hadn't eaten since brunch. Had a walk on the riverside to see all the restaurants on there. There are so many and it's very cheap - £1.50 to £2 per main meal. We managed to get a table right on the edge overlooking the river. We ended up getting 3 main dishes and a starter. A bit greedy, but I wanted to try a Lao dish and was worried I wouldn't like it. The food took ages and we were starving - it's all made fresh and to order though. What's funny as well is that most of the time when you order a starter, it ends up coming with the mains or after! Everything always comes in dribs and drabs - at least we don't stuff our faces straight away. Well it's a good job we got 3 dishes because we didn't like the Lao dish. It was a spicy soup with veg and chicken but we didn't like it. Another was fried chicken with garlic, onions, green beans and peppers - that was lovely.
It all only cost 93,000 Kip (£8) and that's with a Sprite and small water each.

We're on an alcohol detox today too. We realised this morning that we've drunk beer every day for about 3 weeks!

Walked up to the Market again for a browse and to keep us away from the bars. As we were walking around some random guy suddenly stopped and did a karate kick towards Therese, said a few Lao words and then walked off...the locals on the markets just said "don't worry, he crazy"...you're not wrong there, bloody nut job. Obviously I was about to Jackie Chan his arse, but gave him the stare of death, which is when he walked off...

After that episode we carried on walking around the Market and stopped off at the Ancient Bakery as there were lots of buns etc winking at us and shouting eat me. We got a chocolate and cinnamon roll and a peanut chocolate brownie. They looked better than they actually tasted - I still ate all mine.

It's such a lovely little town, but tomorrow we leave for Vang Vieng...tubing here we come!