Vang Vieng was our next destination in Laos. 5 more hours on the road with Mr Luck doing what he did best and we arrived in Tenerife, ok it wasn't Tenerife but it was a very European style tourist destination like Spain or Greece (Club 18-30). It was fronted with bars, restaurants and a few market like stalls selling flip-flops and general stuff, whilst each bar had a television series playing at the back of the bar on loop such as Friends or Family Guy or other American exports. This place had a generally different feel to it, as if it's a resort made to fit the back packer market alongside the let's go to Laos and behave like a bunch of dick-heads market (harsh maybe but true).

The main attraction, not endorsed by our Gap leader (CEO Brett), was tubing down a stretch of river (sitting in an over inflated inner tube) whilst stopping en route to be pulled into bar after bar to fuel you with alcohol or other dubious substances whatever your poison. There was of course other options on the table, hiking or cycling in the 36 degree sunshine, or trips to do rock climbing, or just having a few meals, checking Facebook whilst chilling by the river and then sitting and cooling down in an air conditioned room in just your pants. Yes that's right we did nothing. And it felt good and guilt free as there really wasn't that much to do or see. Vang Vieng was yet another place to relax although not so much when the sun goes down, as thats when the insects start and the frogs croak in successive choruses and the farm of loose cockerels decide it's dawn at 1am, 2am and 3am (you get the picture). Finally couple this with getting a bit snotty and stuffed up due to starting a cold and sleep wouldn't be too easy to come by.

We did however use our time effectively whilst not being too energetic to do some of the good stuff such as our laundry and playing pool badly in the only Irish bar in town. Next stop would be Vientiane which is the capital of Laos before heading over the border to Thailand.
Mike and Kelly