Currency:
Laos Kip

Highlights:
Catching up with more friends, tubing down the Nam Song

Our Adventure:

We woke up early the next morning and were all treated to a final scrumptious Jo Ma's bagel which my wonderful wife had kindly gone and fetched for us and we then jumped into the minivan.

Next stop: Vang Vieng, Laos.

The journey to Vang Vieng lasted 6 hours and although the drive is very scenic and we admired the beautiful mist-laced mountains and got to see the diverse ethnic hill-tribe villages the drive was horribly windy and bumpy, very bumpy. After cruising through the hill-hugging roads and dodging everything from chickens, to cows, to pigs and even the odd villager we finally arrived at the New Bus Station where everyone was more than happy to jump off the bus and find our new home for the next few days, the Riverview Bungalow.

The tuk tuk driver was adamant that he knew exactly where we were headed and 10 minutes and 10 000 kip each later we had apparently arrived at the Riverview Bungalow. As the final 100 metres of the road was closed due to some road tarring we had to jump off the tuk tuk and walk whilst the tuk tuk driver drove off into the distance. 5 minutes later we learnt that due to the fact that everything is on the river they are all called Riverview Bungalows. Doh. What made it worst is that the Riverview Bungalow that we had been dropped off at had a swimming pool and a beach volleyball court which our Riverview Bungalow did not have. Jealous.

Anyway, we jumped on another tuk tuk and 5 minutes (which included a diversion past the air strip) and 10 000 kip later we had finally arrived at our home for the next few days, Bansuan Riverview Bungalow where we immediately spotted the familiar faces of Craig and Sash (Saffa friends of ours who were previously in London with us but moved out to Australia a few months ago). We dumped our bags and headed straight to the bar where we grabbed some lunch and caught up with Craig and Sash who none of us had seen for just under a year as they had moved out to Western Australia. Our bungalow was situated just north of the town where the river bends to the west and the view is truly like something out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - absolutely stunning.

Arriving in Vang Vieng feels as if a section of Bangkok's Khao San Road has been transplanted to this once sleepy retreat. Vang Vieng offers a plethora of western comforts and comatose-inducing video bars in an attempt to secure its claim on visitors. But despite its reputation as a sullied paradise, this beautiful setting beside the Nam Song River and jagged limestone karsts is far from that. Besides a wide selection of outward bound pursuits for tubing (for which this town is famous) to trekking, caving and climbing, there are still plenty of authentic spots to savour a slice of old Vang Vieng. It grew up around the river, and this is where we decided to spend most of our time.

After having a few beers and a bite to eat at the bungalow we decided to head out into town and see what Vang Vieng had to offer us. As South Africa was playing England in the final test we decided to start in the Aussie Bar which was guaranteed to be showing the game. The Aussie Bar also had a pool table so it was a perfect spot for the guys and Greg and I challenged Craig and Al to a few games. Greg and I managed to whitewash them in one of the games which, much to the amusement of the bar, meant that they had to run around the pool table in their boxer shorts. Excellent.

Once the sun had set we headed across the river to the strip of bars and started at the Rock Bar and then continued on a pub crawl for the rest of the evening. The bars are all outdoor bars and most of them have a big bonfire going in the middle. They also offer some interesting 'menus'. When we finally decided to call it a night we were walking home and there was a power failure which meant we had to navigate back to our bungalow in the pitch dark. After dodging a few massive holes in the sidewalk we eventually made it home and we were treated to thousands of stars up in the night sky - a great first day in Vang Vieng.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=382360&id=713415257&l=5168031268

Day 2:

The crew eventually all surfaced at around 11h00 many with very sore heads from the previous nights festivities. We decided to hire some scooters for the day and bike out to the Blue Lagoon which is a part of the Nam Song river. It has s stunning blue colour and you can either sit and relax on the banks or jump in the Blue Lagoon and chill out on the rope chairs or have fun on a number of the swings or even jump from the trees into the river.

Lara and I jumped on our scooter kitted out with some helmets that made us look like we had just come out of the movie Dumb and Dumber. Superb.

We travelled the 7 km out to the Blue Lagoon on some very bumpy and rocky dirt roads but on arrival we spent the rest of the day chilling out, playing cards and relaxing in the sunshine.

After navigating the dusty and rocky road home we dropped off the bikes, jumped into a shower and headed back to the Aussie Bar for some ice cold beers and some cricket.

A few hours later we were joined by some more of the crew that would be travelling with us in Vang Vieng: Jeff, Shev and Kath. After spending a great evening watching cricket, drinking beers, catching up and playing cards we headed home after a busy day via a little street vendor where we tucked into some local pancakes.

You can see our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=382361&id=713415257&l=3072a73def

Day 3:

Tubing down the Nam Song is one of Vang Vieng's biggest attractions and we were going to do a dry run of the tubing for Sash's 30th birthday a few days later. We hit the road at 10h00 and we paid our 50 000 kip and we were transported by tuk tuk to the launch point 3 km north of town.

We were greeted at the launch point with some welcome shooters of local whiskeys - very interesting. As we looked down the Nam Song River you can see the banks of the river are lined with bars and slides with the idea being you jump in your tube and float down the river and when you want to stop in at a bar, staff at the bar throw out a rope for you, you pull yourself in and enjoy a beverage (or two :) at the bar in the sunshine. What a great day out!

The trip on the tubes can take two or more hours depending on river conditions and how many of the makeshift bars you stop at en route and after jumping on our tubes and nearly losing Sash at one branch of the river our first stop was at Smile Bar which enticed us with mud tug-o-war and mud volleyball.

We spent the rest of the day floating down the river and frequenting a number of bars with the highlights being as follows:

• Monkey Bar
○ Free cocktails for the girls
• Slide Bar
○ One massive super tube which shoots you into the river
○ Clyde decided to go face forward and it forced us all to ask ourselves:
§ Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Clyde Collins (you need to see the photo to understand what I am talking about!)
• Last Bar
○ Drinking games

Due to the fact that we had such a great time on the river, the last stretch of the river was completed when the sun had gone down behind the mountain which was the exact thing we did not want to do as it got rather cold on the river. Hopefully we would learn our lesson for next time we tackled the Nam Song.

That night we headed out for a delicious BBQ dinner and as it had been a long day on the river some people headed home with the rest of us cruising out to some of the bars for another few beers and for the girls to do some dancing. We ended the evening on the river with Shev entertaining us with her infamous party trick - doing the splits! Although the guys were tempted to challenge Shev, we decided to postpone that for another time and headed home instead.

Another great day in Vang Vieng!

You can see our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=382363&id=713415257&l=db866c021b

Day 4:

The team woke up with some rather sore heads and we decided to have a rest and relaxation day. To cure the sore heads we headed back to the original Riverside Bungalow that we were dropped off at which included the swimming pool and the beach volleyball court.

For the rest of the day we lazed by the pool with the only movement being when the boys headed to the beach volleyball court. Al, Craig and Jeff took on Greg, Clyde and me and in the first game and my team managed to whitewash the others which meant one tequila for each of them. This continued even after Clyde left with Greg and I taking on the other three and by the end of the day the other three had to drink three tequilas and one whole beer.

Yes, this means they were whitewashed another two times. Beer-ya-ti-ful.

After the boys headed out for some beers and pizzas and for the losers to drink their fines the team was tired and everyone retired for an early night.

You can see our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=382365&id=713415257&l=f4057ef983

Day 5:

It was going to be a biggie - it was Sash's 30th birthday and the full tour team were heading back up the river for "In the tubing Van Vieng Laos" which an article describes as follows:

Enterprising locals have built riverside bars hawking the national pride, "Beerlao", and jerry rigged fly wires over the river. Lao touts tempt passing inner tubers by throwing lines at them; if you're thirsty you just grab on and they pull you in.

So for the first time we had a full team out on the water as on previous occasions there had been a sick member of the team and as always we started with a shooter or two, the local Lao whiskey.

The rest of the day we floated down the river with the highlights being as follows:

• Plenty of birthday shooters for the birthday girl
• A full team out on the Nam Song
• The girls getting whitewashed at Beer Pong. Beer Pong (also known as Beirut) is a drinking game in which players throw a ping-pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in a cup of beer on the other end.
• Everyone braved at least one swing
• The boys had mud tug-o-war and mud volleyball

It was a great day out and an unbelievable and very unique way to spend Sash's 30th birthday with a great bunch of friends!

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=382371&id=713415257&l=5e678bf60e

Unfortunately this was our last day in Laos and was a perfect end to an incredible time in Laos. The next morning we would be jumping on a 6 hour bus to Vientiane which would include a stop past the now infamous Jo Ma's and then we would be jumping on the Laos airline plane bound for Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Bye bye Laos!

Leise + Lara