Next day:
We woke up early so we had enough time for a coffee before the tuktuk pick up at 09:00. We couldn't remember the name of our guesthouse so gave the name of one just next to ours-"Mixay" so we sat outside until we were picked up. Almost 15 minutes late, the tuktuk finally arrived, we loaded our backpacks on and went to "Vientienne hostel" to pick up another passenger, who was the German Kiera knightly look a like who we shared a tuktuk with at the Laos border. The tuktuk drove us to the local bus station where i got an iced mocha before boarding the big local bus.

The "falangs" sat near the back of the bus whilst the locals sat towards the front. As we set off, we practically made a stop to let someone on. There is a massive holding area on the bottom of the bus filled with backpacks, bikes and big boxes, i suppose this is the popular way of transporting goods from across the country for the locals. At another stop, three lao women got on with snacks to sell. They were selling sticky rice packed in bamboo tubes (which the german woman opted for as she is veggie), barbecued chicken and some small delicious buns which tasted similar to donuts and garnished with sesame seeds. The women hopped off the bus and we proceeded with the journey.

The bus made another stop in the middle of nowhere and locals began running off the bus all in different directions, it was a toilet stop but not one we were used to. I needed to wee pretty badly and figured we wouldn't be stopping at a petrol station with a proper loo so i followed two of the girls out and darted to a bush hidden away from the view of the bus for a wee. I hadn't finished when the bus began to beep to hurry everyone along so i squeezed out every last drop as quickly as i could and scurried back onto the bus. The journey continued making loads of stops to let locals on and off as well as loading goods onto the bottom, it seemed like it would take forever to get to the caves but we eventually arrived at around 16:00.

The bus had stopped in the drive of a guesthouse and when we all got off we were greeted by a woman who handed us all a key to a room which cost only 50,000 a night! Once we all went into the rooms to drop off our backpacks we gathered outside where we got talking. We met a few people, a man called Florin who i think was travelling alone, Julius, Bob, Abbey and Sam the last three come from Birmingham and Sheffield. Me and Dan had decided to have a smoke as the surroundings were so beautiful and we were in a remote village so Bob asked for a rizla and we went to our separate rooms to roll then met again out front.

Most of the group had taken their seats in the dining area of the guesthouse so me, Dan, Julius and bob chilled and smoked together as the sun set and the temperature dropped. We discussed what time everyone would be going to the caves the next day and a few of the group members plan to get to the cave really early so they could make it back to the guesthouse in time for the 12:00 bus back into town but we decided to have a bit of a lay in and go to the caves later to stay two nights instead of one, five of us were all heading to pakse after as well so we could all travel together. After we finished smoking, feeling pretty high we joined the others for dinner.

The main table was full so me, Dan, Bob (who's real name is Andrew) and Julius sat on the other table together. We grabbed the menu off the other table and had a butchers at what was on offer for dinner. I decided on chicken yellow noodle soup whilst the boys had chicken fried rice, you had to go to the kitchen to order so i did the honours. I was met by a young smiley boy so i tried to explain the order carefully so he could understand, his mother left the stove to confirm my order and when it was right, the boy jumped up and down grinning because he had understood me correctly. I could tell it was going to be quite a wait for the food as the main table hadn't received most of theirs yet so i sat back down with the boys and chatted until it was ready. The young son was running out the food to everyone when it was ready which was so cute.

When the food arrived there was some confusion, but thats how it always is in Laos. When my noodle soup came i was disappointed that the noodles were instant and came straight out of one of those noodle pots you pour hot water into but as i was hungry i didn't mind too much. We were discussing why the cats have such short or no tails at all in Asia and Bob said it was because the tails were used for cooking and that what we were all eating wasn't really chicken, this put everyone off and they ended up leaving half their rice. We ordered more beerlao and decided to play cards.

Bob taught us how to play two games "s***head" and "bulls***" which were really fun especially after a few beers. The main table slowly began to disappear as it was getting late and they all planned to visit the cave early. Our table was the last in the restaurant, we stayed up drinking, smoking, chatting and drinking beer to keep us warm as it was absolutely freeeeeeeeezing! The wind was so strong as well, it must be because we were nestled in the mountains and at a high altitude. A while later we decided to leave the dining room to have a bedtime smoke together so we went to out separate rooms to roll and meet out front to smoke before bed.