We arrived in Vang Vieng thinking it would be very touristy which it was but we also did some of our best activities here and really enjoyed our week-long stay. The town itself is set amongst lots of mini-mountains and every direction you look you can see clouds forming at the peaks.

It's a beautiful place and after a few days we started by renting out some bikes and pedalling our way around the outskirts of the town. It was quite tiring in the heat but was well worth as we got to see a few small local villages and some very impressive scenery.The next day we booked a trek around the surrounding regions. We did it with a woman from Dudley in England and our guide was a local man who spoke good English and was really friendly. We started by crossing a very thin and rickety bamboo bridge over the Nam Song river which was quite a challenge and then we waded through the water of the rice fields with our walking boots off. After a few hours of ascending a lot of rocky slopes we stopped for lunch. The setting was beautiful and right in between the mountains in a cow field. We cooked chicken kebabs and rice and refuelled for the next stage. We continued going up until we found locals in the final stage of rice-making. Next we came to the peak of the trek and an amazing natural waterfall. We had to leave our bags at the bottom of the stream and scramble down the stream to get to it but it was worth it. The waterfall was about 30 feet high and surrounded by rocks that you could use to jump into the water which was so clean it was drinkable. We spent a good 45 minutes there just soaking up the atmosphere. We then had to retrace our steps all the way to the start again but by that time it was getting dark and when we got back to the bridge over the Nam Song it was pitch black. It was quite a daunting experience going over the rickety bridge in the dark but Dan and I won't forget it in a hurry and it will be one of the main things we remember from the trip! We finished the day by eating at a restaurant our fellow trekker recommended to us. It involved ordering a plate of raw meat and cooking it along with vegetables on a stove that is part of the table you sit at. It was a very sociable way to eat and we went back another night to try it again!

After a days rest from the trekking we did the famous tubing down the Nam Song river that Vang Vieng is famous for. It invloves renting a big tractor inner tube and floating down the river while stopping at bars that are equipped with water slides etc. It was a good experience and was quite theraputic having the current drift you along at its own pace. We didn't drink too much though as we hear it can be quite dangerous when intoxicated!

We travel to Luang Prabang next which is our final stop in Laos before going back to Thailand and then flying to Australia in mid-November.