Waking up with an unplanned hangover in Vientiane after meeting some friendly Australasians, the thought of a long busride to Vang Vieng did not sound appealing. However with no better suggestions we were about to purchase our bus tickets when we stumbled across a flyer for 'Dreamtime Eco Lodge' just 25km away.

Half an hour later and much enthusiastic nodding (of course he knows where it is! Just as long as you have an inbuilt GPS inside your head obviously) from a tuk tuk driver we were making our way to the forest. Bearing in mind we had decided against a long hot jounrey because we were feeling delicate, 25km of bone-shaking brain-rattling dirt roads in a dusty and shaky tuk tuk was not a good experience. A near miss with a goat improved the drivers awareness (I feel we would have come off a lot worse than the sturdy looking goat if we had collided), but it did nothing for his knowledge of roads, directions, or indeed anything to do with driving us to the destination he had insisted he knew so well.

He listened to many opposing theories from the locals as to where the lodge was, and managed to find himself taking a side 'road' which was little more than a very long and very muddy puddle. The tuk tuk swayed and lurched violently, but the driver pressed on undeterred, evidently keen to get his falang to the lodge whether we died along the way or not. Inevitably we soon became stuck fast, yet the driver was looking oddly triumphant. Later we learned he had been told clearly not to go this way but was looking for a big tip by way of emotional blackmail as our journey had cost him his vehicle. Not falling for this Kate & I pushed him out and sent him back the way he had come, then sighed a big sigh before setting off on foot for the last incredibly hot 2km through the bog. The walk was not an easy one with bags and the heat, and as could be expected, I was apparently to blame, as this was all my idea. But when we eventually turned off the road onto a clean sandy path running past a little waterfall, and into an idllyic lodge in a beautiful forest I knew it had been the right decision after all!

Dreamtime Eco Lodge couldnt have been more perfect (well I think Steph would beg to differ here, believeing perhaps that electricity and some sort of nightime spider killer as protection would have made things much better); just 6 wooden cabins each with their own secluded portion of forest inside a carefully managed and protected jungle, with a gorgeous tinkling clear stream running through with waterfalls and swimming holes and snakes and spiders and butterflies and bugs and bugs and bugs....

Instant relief from the heat and dust of the journey came from an afternoon swim in a shady swimming hole, and then it was time for dinner. Having tried laap before (a traditional Lao dish of minced beef, herbs and chillies with sticky rice) I assumed we would all be safe having it again. I could not have been more wrong. Apparently the tasty one I had at a touristy restaurant was very far from authentic as tonight we were getting the real deal; arteries, liver, stomach, intestine, skin, tongue and what looked alarmingly like eyeball were the ingredients served to us, with some leaves but sadly no chillies to numb the mouth. Not wanting to offend our host I (with a generous helping of salt and pepper) managed to clear my plate, but quite how I managed to continue swallowing is not worth thinking about. Not a meal I wish to endure again. Steph, the newly non-vegetarian, and a revolted looking Kate fared rather less well. After dinner Mike, our (fantastic) host took us on a night walk through the jungle looking for creepy crawlies, and found us more than our fair share. We went to bed sharing the cabin with a couple of Bats, so in a way Steph did have some sort of Spider protection, although there was nothing they could do for her when she was later joined by a Bamboo Rat.

The next couple of days were spent in the most relaxed manner possible - bathing swimming and generally lounging in the many spectacular mini waterfalls and swimming areas. We were joined in one by a family bringing their cows to drink, and after they had left, their three children stayed behind to explore in the rocks. They found a snake so we watched as they played pretending to their little brother that it was on his foot and making him scream. A joint effort (between the siblings, we stayed well back!) led to them eventually probing the snake out from its hole and whacking it to death. Snake for tea; yummy yummy.

We were so glad we went to Dreamtime Eco Lodge, and wished we could have stayed longer, but like all good things it had to come to an end, just this end found us happily bumping along in the back of a truck on the way back to town.

For anyone thinking of staying there the website for Dreamtime is;

http://www.dreamtime-laos.com/