Feeling like fairly seasoned travellers now, we waited at the bus stop for our bus to Laos un-phased by the 25 hour journey ahead. The bus that turned up however, was unlike anything we'd experienced before and we found ourselves wedged amongst totes of various vegetables, cartons of noodles, car tyres and the odd cardboard box in what was clearly seemed to be a goods bus. There was an absolute animal aboard who was meant to be looking after the passengers but didn't speak English so he grunted, shoved and elbowed us into our seats like an ape which began to grate. The journey was torturous and I continued to tell Luke how much I wished a was a massive bloke so I could knock out the ape as he dozed in and out of his Valium-endured slumber which eased the pain of the journey.

A whole day later we stopped for a quick breakfast before catching another 3 hour bus which took us to our destination - Vang Vieng. Needless to say that was the toughest day of travel so far and we arrived in need of some serious chill out time and it turned out that we had come to the right place. We spent our first evening exploring the town which we loved almost immediately.

The next day we went tubing which is what the town of Vang Vieng is most famous for. It's history is slightly tainted with stories of backpackers who have died tubing while drunk but the area has since been transformed and all of the riverside bars closed down as a result. The experience was really tranquil and peaceful and we sailed merrily down the river taking in the beautiful backdrop and buying drinks illegally from innocent-looking little grannies sitting along the banks. The evening was spent roaming from bar to bar with one of our favourites being Lala Land which had a bonfire and sofas in the garden.

Our final day was spent visiting the blue lagoon which was exactly that - a beautiful bright blue lagoon with a rope swing and bridge crossing it. It was set on the edge of the forest and was a lovely little community of travellers all hanging out, listening to music, playing volleyball and enjoying the warm weather. Luke fell in love with the place and had a ball competing with the other guys to see who could do the best jump off the rope swing throwing me the odd glance to make sure I was watching.