We had a nice lie in on Tuesday before getting up for some breakfast and then tubing. We arrived at the tube rental place at 1.15pm, signed our lives away, got in a tuk tuk and went up the river. We arrived at the top of the river where the first bar is and decided not to get immediately onto the river. We shared a beerlao (not quite chang but it will do....) and sat in the sun. We all took our turn on the slide before floating down the river to the next bar.

This one had a swing....I took my shot but things didnt go so well...I more or less got b**** slapped by the water. Annoyingly, the next bar had a better swing which I would have done had i not messed up on the first one - oh well. We bought a Mojito bucket to share between us and ran into the guys who we took the tuk tuk with. Got chatting to them, turns out they are all at Bath Uni studying business and know our beloved Markles! (Small world!!!) We hung out at that bar (bar III...creative name) chilling in the sun for an hour or so before moving on. The next bar we played a bit of beer pong which was good fun. We then skipped the next few bars as the day was coming to a close. One of the last bars had a massive slide which we all wanted to do but weren't allowed to unless we bought a drink. It was nearly 5 so we decided to skip it. The float home was about 45 minutes and we needed to be back by 6pm to get our full deposit! We enjoyed the relaxing ride down with the beautiful scenery and luckily had some little Lao men yell at us to tell us it was the end of the run and we needed to get out! Some strong back stroke on my part got us to the river bank ;).

We made it back to the rental place just at 6pm and got all our money back :D. Tubing........one of the wierdest experiences ever. The scenery is beautiful but who came up with this whole idea? I have no idea.....

That evening we went and got all the grit from the river water off and then went to the resto across from our hostel for a delicious western meal (burger/pizza/burger) and watched a fair amount of friends! We then moved onto Q bar where we shared a bucket and chatted to people we had met along the way. We then played on of the most ridiculous drinking games (as in stupid)...still very entertaining! We finally ended up at "Bucket Bar" (another creative name) where we chatted to some more people before heading home (after getting a chocolate pancake :D).

The next morning we werent sure of the plans but we got some breakfast and watched friends before making a move. We went to get cash and sort out our bus down to Vientiene and on our way back to the hostel a bus arrived. Our friends from loughborough were due someday soon so we had a look and hey! There they were :). We agreed not to tube again so sat in our hostel cafe watching friends...for a good 3 or 4 hours!!!

That night we went out for dinner with the loughborough boys to the "aussi bar" (i know right?) and we all enjoyed our delicious burgers :). Played a couple drinking games before moving to Q bar for some buckets, drinking games and dancing. Finally we ended up back at bucket bar across the river before calling it a night at 3am...us 3 girls needed to be getting up before 6am to catch our bus down to Vientiene!

We got up, grabbed our bags, and walked to where we were told was a bus stop. We didnt see much of a bus stop but saw the bus driving down the road really slowly honking its horn. Not only were we exhausted and walking around with our massive backpacks, it was PISSING it down! Way to make a bad morning worse....We got on the bus, found our seats and did our best to pass out. The first hour of the bus ride was very start/stop....he was driving very slowly and honking is horn. We came to the conclusion that buses dont actually have scheduled times....it's more a "between this time and this time" sort of situation and hopefully you'll be near enough to hear the horn to catch it!

The rather bumpy trip took about 4 hours (by rather bumpy i mean moments in time where we literally thrown from our seats)...every time I woke up i had someone new sitting next to me...earlier on in the trip we had a box of birds next to us...little alive birds - weird! When we finally arrived in Vientiene having driven passed the airport (i did ask them to stop but they either didnt understand or chose to ignore me). We arrived at the bus stop and went to find some food. We found a little market stall with a lady selling baguettes filled with...something. They cost approximately 30p each so we went for it - not too bad actually!

We then decided to head for the airport. After the guy trying to charge us more than double what we should have paid our excellent haggling skills came into play and we got the price we wanted. We made it to the airport and found a couple chairs for a nap before check-in. Once checked-in we went for some lunch and then went to board the plane. The flight was easy and fast - as they always seem to be in this part of the world! Easyjet could use a few pointers from these folk.

We found a minibus to the city and got in. Hanoi...wow. Hectic hectic city! Scooters EVERYWHERE! Driving in all different directions, on the wrong side of the road, down one way streets...you name it, they do it. We got stuck in some hideous traffic but finally made it to the hostel we were reccommended. After checking in we went and found a little Pho restaurant (vietnamese noodle soup) and had a meal for three for approximately 3 quid - nice. We then came back to sort out our time in Vietnam. We will spend tomorrow in Hanoi and then the next morning leave for a night living on a Junk in Ha Long Bay. As soon as we get back the next afternoon we will be heading off for Hue!

Maybe another update tomorrow...otherwise after Ha Long Bay!

Toodles :)

Emma