19th Feb: We caught the Bus to Vang Vieng and it took 6hours on really winding steep mountain roads and almost crashing with every coach coming the opposite way. The views were absolutely gorgeous with huge Limestone mountains all the way. Although the air is very hazy so photos never come out as good. We did the whole, check the guide books 2 mins before we arrive and pick a hostel. We grabbed a tuk tuk with some french people to NaNa guesthouse which turned out to be really nice. Vang Vieng was a great little town in the middle of nowhere with heaps of bars playing Friends and Family guy all day and all night long! and then there is the Tubing....basically you rent a rubber tube and float down a river stopping at a bar every 20metres pumping out AMAZING tunes. Each bar has a swing or a Zip wire or a diving board to launch yourself into the river. Its great and the atmosphere is just so surreal. On the first day fiona and i got split up becuase i decided i wanted to tube all the wqay back, not realising that it would take me a good few hours and it was already dark. i managed to grab a boat with some aussies and meanwhile fiona got a tuk tuk back after she had been headbutted by a cow in the leg!

We spent 2 days tubing and the second day we actually made it all the way down the river 4km back to the tube rental shop, but this meant we had to leave the bars at 4:30 and paddle the whole way. But it was still fun and we saw the sunset behind the mountains. I risked taking my camera on the second day in our dry bag and it paid off and i got some great photos and a video or two of us doing the swings. We met load of people in the 2 days and also bumped into some from our trek in Chaing Mai and our slow boat.

We had a good night out the thrid night since we managed to pace ourselves on the drinks while tubing. (1st night ended pretty early because of this) And we managed a lie in becuase our bus to Vientienne, the capital, was at 1pm.

22nd: We got picked up from NaNa guesthouse in a mini bus which was almost empty and we thought great, loads of space, only to be dropped at a coach which was almost full with no seats next to eachother. after 4 hours of a numb bum we arrived in Vientienne and headed for the nearest guesthouse which happend to be lonley planets pick. We decided we were going to get the bus(rather than fly) to Hanoi, Vietnam. We wondered round the city in the eve and then got a pizza, while fiona watched the footy.

23rd: Our bus was not until 7 in the evening and we were to be picked up from our guesthouse at 5. So we spent the day looking at the sites and trying to find the Australian Embassy clinic which would supposedly treat my burn. However we ended up getting a tuk tuk to the hospital since the embassy looked very closed. I got my burn cleaned and dressed and asked for some supplies to do it myself, and more drugs. Really nice staff in the hospital but a little too much blood on the floor(and you have to take your shoes off when you go inside buildings in Laos) We killed some time in the internet cafe and then headed back to our guesthouse in time for 5. We didnt pick up any food becuase we assumed we would get to the bus station in plently to time....we were wrong. Our transfer turned up at 6:30 in the end just as fiona had gone to flag down a tuk tuk. It was lucky we did wait since the guy from the travel agent had fionas Credit card which she had left behind when we booked the bus. We got to the bus at 6:50 and threw our bags in the hold and got some seats, again separate but at least we had seats. With only 1 litre of water each and no food we were pretty unprepared. Once the bus got moving some poeple budged up and we were able to get 2 seats next to eachother....BUT it had the wheel arch so no leg room at all. This was going to be a great 27hour bus ride! We stopped at a random house where the driver and crew had some food....none for us. The next stop was at 2 in the morning were we pulled into a hotel carpark, we though great! loo stop. the toilet was closed and the driver ate once again and dissaperaed. Someone asked the only lady around what was going on a we were told the driver was sleeping until 5! I couldnt sleep becuase it was too hot on the bus so spent 3 hours reading and listening to my stomach rumble! We finally got going and it was actually quite a nice drive to the boarder watching the sun come up over the hills. We sat in a queue of buses at the Vietnam border for a good hour. Then handed our passports to the front. 3 people didnt have valid vietnam visas which you have to get before arrival and so were turned back to Laos. 2 of them happend to be in the seats behind Fiona and I so i Jumped into them straight away! We had to take all our luggage off the bus and then go through immigration which took an hour or so since there was one man being very very slow. A shop the other side of the border sold some biscuits in a bulk pack so i bought them to help my hunger but i think it just made it worse! Another 9 or 10 hours to go until we arrived in Hanoi. I got some sleep when i made myself listen to the hardcore trance mix that was over one hour long that chris had put on my ipod. Pretty relaxing actually! the rest of the journey was ok and we did stop for a real food break. I would say the worst bit about the journey was the constant honking of the horn, in Vietnam they honk just for the hell of it every few seconds.

Laos was really nice and the scenery was stunning. The people were so nice and i have faith in the medical services! I think i would like to go back there one day.