Sun 23rd - Mon 3rd March (Week 22)

Sun 23rd - Got a tuk tuk to the bus station at 7am for our 8am bus to Vang Vieng, but didn't end up leaving until 8:30. We thought it was going to be another nice big bus, but unfortunately it was a 25 seater mini bus that was crammed full - one poor old lady had to have her legs tucked into her as there were 2 huge rice sacks in front of her, and 2 others were sitting on the rice sacks ! Pretty uncomfy, long and hot 6 hour ride with the first toilet stop after 3.5 hours - another by the side of the road job - and now we know about all the UXOs everywhere, we were too afraid to go into the bushes ! Finally arrived into Vang Vieng at 3pm and checked into the lovely Phongsavanh Resort for £4 each a night ! Had a wander around the town to check out restaurants and tours etc. Apparently it has really tamed down since 2012 as it used to just be a S.E.Asia version of Ibiza - lots of drinking, loud music, and getting drunk floating down the river. But after one too many deaths due to dangerous rope swings and slides, they've shut a lot of things down so its calmer now. But even so, there are still a lot of bars and a fair few drunks walking about !

Mon 24th - Had our most chilled out day of travelling so far I think. No alarm, didn't even look at our watches until we got up at 9:30 ! Had lovely breakfast in town of porridge and french toast, then bought - of all things - a keyboard as a few of our laptop keys have broken. That will be fun to carry around then ! Did a bit more shopping, bought a bus ticket for Fri, and booked a kayaking trip. We've discovered an amazing new drink - banana and milo shake for 35p, so we've had 4 in 24hours ! Amazing. Headed over the river at 1:30 intending to explore, and go and check out a cave, but then saw these raised wooden beds by the river, next to a bamboo hut selling cheap drinks, and playing chillout music, so we bought a beer and stayed there for the next 2 hours ! Enjoyed the sun, the view of the river and limestone karsts and not having anything to do on a Monday ! Bliss. Watched sunset from another bar and watched the hot air balloons floating around for great views of the setting sun.

Tues 25th - Another leisurely breakfast overlooking the river and karsts, then at 12:30 we caught a tuk tuk 4km up the river to start our vigorous afternoon of tubing ! We had a large inner tube each, sat back and drifted down the river. There are very few bars left now, so we stopped at bar no.2 which was really nice - not too busy - and we played petanque and volleyball with a beer in the sun ! Carried on the down river, through some small rapids, and very calm waters where we used our flip flops to paddle. At about 4:30pm we started getting a bit concerned we still had about 2km to go and had to be back at 6pm. So started paddling/swimming and finally arrived back into town at 5:40. So our leisurely afternoon finished with a bit of effort, but still stunning scenery, very relaxing and a nice way to top up the tan ! Had our first fruit pizza of the trip so far - been disappointed we've not seen it before, but it was really good - banana, pineapple and mango - amazing !

Wed 26th - Headed off at 9am for our day of caving and kayaking. Drove 25km away, then walked across some very dry paddy fields to a tiny entrance to a cave in the river. Got in some tubes, put on headtorches, and pulled ourselves along a rope into the cave for about 200m. Really cool and it kept going further back, but a bit harder to get to, so we just came back out. Had a nice lunch (at 11am !), then started our 30km kayaking back to town. Really nice small group of 6, and most other groups only kayak 15km or less, so we had the river to ourselves most of the day. Stopped at the last bar on the river for a mid-afternoon beer, then got back to town at 4pm. We enjoyed that a lot more than the tubing as you see so much more scenery (30km instead of 4km) and its so easy to glide along without much effort ! And we had to laugh at the poor tubers we passed today, languishing in the stationary waters with a lot of paddling ahead of them !

Thurs 27th - Hired some mountain bikes today and set off on our 7km ride to the "Blue Lagoon & cave". The scenery was beautiful - limestone karsts all around, rice fields, local wooden huts, naked children running down the road, and trying to cycle through herds of cows ! However, the dirt road was the bumpiest, most full of pebbles, gravel, pot holes and dust I have ever seen and pretty soon my hands were numb from the vibrations and my bum has never been so sore ! Finally made it to the Blue Lagoon - a beautiful turquoise deep river that has swings and rope swings etc. Wonderfully cold to cool us down after our long hot bike ride then we just sunbathed for an hour or two. Climbed up a steep, rocky hill to the cave, and considering we have seen a lot of caves, this was magnificent. I have never been in such a mammoth cavern ! I scrambled around climbing up and down rocks and in and out of holes thoroughly enjoying myself, having a good old explore, whilst Brandon looked on in amusement/horror ! Headed back to town at 2:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon sunbathing with a beer by the river listening to the chillout music, watching the hot air balloons go overhead at sunset. We've really enjoyed Vang Vieng, and could easily spend another few days here doing activities, relaxing, and enjoying the scenery.

Fri 28th - Waited for our pickup at 9:30 which eventually showed up at 10:15 to take us 5 mins down the road to the bus station. Waited with all the other tourists until a bus showed up, then a mad scrum to get on. Luckily I sent Brandon on board to grab seats while I put the bags on as pretty soon the whole bus was full with loads more people standing outside looking confused and annoyed. I managed to shove our bags on, shut the baggage door and get on. They put the others onto a minibus which they were not happy about, then the final 3 people had to sit down the middle of the aisle on plastic chairs among backpackers everywhere which wouldn't fit in the hold ! Chaos ! Once we eventually got going - an hour late - it was quite a quick and painless trip and arrived into Vientiane at 2:15. Got a pickup to our hostel where brandon passed out for the afternoon as he was feeling rough. Both had a very small dinner of a tiny bowl of soup, then wandered around the Night Markets which weren't as good as Luang Prabang.

Sat 1st - Headed out at 10am and were hit by the intense heat which made us walk very slowly, walk in the shade and drink lots of cold drinks ! Meant to be about 38C, but feels like 42C ! Went to Inpeng temple, Wat Sisaket, Haw Pha Kaew, Pataxai (Arc de Triomphe), That Dam, then decided that was quite enough for one hot day, and went to have a nap in our cool a/c room at 2:30. Went to watch sunset at 6pm over a very low Mekong River, early dinner, and back to the a/c !

Sun 2nd - Our penny-pinching traveller mode took over today and we walked for an hour in the 38C heat to Pha That Luang - the most important national monument in Laos. Spent an hour wandering around the beautiful buildings and stupa, then another hour in the midday sun walking back ! Wandered around Wat Mixay and Wat Haysoks in town, then bought our overnight bus tickets down to the 4000 Islands for tomorrow night. Relaxed in the room for the rest of the day with a cold shower and a/c.

Mon 3rd - Checked out at 10:30, walked to the bus station (via a smoothie place for amazing mango, banana and pineapple shakes), then caught local bus no.14 to the Friendship Bridge. Despite the buses running every 10mins, it was still completely full with people standing in the aisle. Arrived at 12:30 then spent the next 30mins getting frustrated with the local tuk tuk drivers who wanted to charge us 50k Kip to go to the Buddha Park, rather than the 6k each we'd been told it should be ! Finally said we'd pay 10k each and we'd wait for other passengers. They weren't overly pleased, but we weren't budging ! Spent an hour wandering around the Buddha Park which was a small-ish park full of all sorts of weird statues, including a huge dome shape you could climb up for good views, and a giant reclining Buddha. Luckily it was less hassle getting back, and walked back to the hostel at 4pm (via the smoothie place again !). It really is an intense heat here, so much so that you just don't feel like doing anything - and we're a little worried it might just be as hot as this for the next few months ! Had showers and used the wifi in the hostel until our pickup for the overnight bus.