After our last night in Kong Lor, it was time to head back to Vientiane. In the morning we got up at 6am, packed our stuff and checked out of our guesthouse, before walking up the street in the hopes of catching the VIP bus which we had heard leaving at 7am the previous morning. We passed numerous villagers heading out to work in the fields who all greeted us cheerily. However, we didn't find any bus. A driver of a passing sawngthaew stopped and informed us that there was no bus going from town that day as we had been led to believe, and that the only way to return to Vientiane was to get a lift with him or another sawngthaew driver to Ban Na Hin back on Route 8 where we could catch the local bus.

With no other option, we hopped in and our driver set off for Ban Na Hin. The view from the sawngthaew was great as we drove through the valley as it came to life in the morning. We picked up and dropped off lots of locals as we drove down the valley, including a woman with two buckets of the most stinking putrid substance imaginable, the nature of which remains a mystery to us.

After passing hundreds of kids cycling their way to school and the rest of the population of the valley going about their business, we eventually reached Route 8 and turned onto it just as the local bus was coming towards us. Our driver flashed the bus to a halt and we quickly jumped off the sawngthaew, chucked our bags onto the local bus and clambered aboard, to find ourselves in a completely packed bus.

With nowhere to sit, Lucy had to sit on the raised bit of floor at the back of the bus above the engine while I set up on a plastic stool in the middle of the aisle. The bus was soon underway, but it wasn't long before it stopped and we realised that it was actually far from full. As we continued along the route back to Vientiane we continually stopped to load on more passengers, and thankfully to let a few off which meant Lucy could get an actual seat while I upgraded to the floor above the engine. These remained our seats for the rest of the 6 hour journey to Vientiane, where we watched bemused as more and more people were packed onto the bus, the majority being loaded in through the back window beside us once the aisle became too busy. Somehow, this journey was more fun than the journey out on the VIP bus, possibly because of the lack of vomit but more likely becuase of the sheer entertainment value of watching so many people cram onto a bus all to the soundtrack of crazy karaoke music videos of Lao music with the same sampled drum sounds repeating over and over and over infinitely in between the videos.

Despite the hilarity of the journey, we were glad to arrive in Vientiane, though by the time we got off the tuk tuk which took us into the town centre, I couldn't feel my bum.

Once back in town we looked around a few guest houses before deciding on 'Mixay' guest house which we hoped didn't contain any crazed rabbits. After dumping our stuff we headed out to the nearby Full Moon Cafe where we had an incredible pulled pork sandwich and some soup to share, then stayed for a few hours catching up on things online on the cafe's wifi connection.

When we returned to the guesthouse after the cafe we were both really tired, so we had a nap before getting up to go out and eat again. This time we headed to one of the numerous nearby French restaurants, deciding on 'La Terrasse'. We had a really nice meal here of quiche lorraine with salad and fries for Lucy and steak au poivre for me. We even treated ourselves to a carafe of wine, a bit of a luxury at the prices charged in Lao. After dinner we returned to the guesthouse to sleep.

The next morning we got up fairly late, knowing we didn't have to rush anywhere as we had an afternoon flight booked to Hanoi in Vietnam. We had breakfast in the hotel lobby, interrupted by an odd aggressive character storming out of the place swearing about Americans.

We killed some time online in the lobby of the hotel before heading out for a walk, ending up at the Scandinavian Cafe in the centre of town. Here, we had a tasty lunch involving a selection of breads with cold meats and cheese and some fruit shakes.

After lunch we returned to the hotel and, on our way in were insulted for no apparent reason by the strange man we had seen storming about earlier. Picking up on his Scots accent, I retorted with a line about Scots being so rude, hoping he would hear my accent and take back his insult, which may have been made believing we were American or something. However, this backfired as the complete mentalist replied aggressively 'You're not Scottish unless you're from the streets of Glasgow, or from Wester Hailes. You're just homosexuals. Homosexuals wearing makeup.' If it hadn't been for the crazed look in his eyes or his obviously aggressive disposition I would have probably burst out laughing in his face, but as it was we just turned silently and went into the hotel, making a mental note to steer clear of the psycho until our taxi turned up an hour later.

Thankfully we managed this with the exception of one instance when the insane hardman passed our table on his way into the hotel and proclaimed with fire in his voice 'You wouldn't speak to me on the streets of Wester Hailes, so don't speak to me here.' He had obviously forgotten that it was he who spoke to us first with his completely unprovoked violent outburst as we tried to walk into the hotel earlier.

Needless to say we were glad when our taxi turned up a short while later and we made our escape, bound for Vientiane airport where we checked in and had to hang around until security opened. During this period I made the mistake of buying the most expensive postcard I have ever bought, only to find the same postcards on sale upstairs for a fifth of the price, in apparently a branch of the same shop.

After finally getting through security once it opened, we hung around for a bit until an almighty thunderstorm kicked off not long before we were due to board the plane. Disappointingly, an announcement was made that our flight was delayed due to the weather, only to be followed about 20 seconds later with a call to board the plane, which in the end left about 1 minute late.