Hello everyone,

On Sunday we left Luang Prabang for our next destination, Vang Vieng. It took around 7 hours in a tiny mini-bus with no air-con but it wasn't too bad. We were driving through mountains the whole way, turning around sharp corners constantly so it's a good job neither of us get travel sick, or anyone else on the bus! It was also pretty bumpy in places where there were lots of pot-holes or where dirt had covered the road because of land slides. We past by lots of villages which were balanced on stilts on the edges of the steep slopes. When we arrived we went to the same guesthouse as our Chilean friends which turned out to be really nice and cheap too.

The next day we decided to do a tour together which involved both cave tubing and kayaking for a ridiculously cheap price! Firstly we got taken up river where we were given our equipment and a bit a of kayaking tuition. We also got filmed for a film that some Italian people were making called 'Lost in Laos' so we'll have to look that up when we're back. We then paddled down the river a little way to a village where we got out and walked for about 20 minutes across rice paddies to the cave where we went tubing. We were each given battery packs with head torches attached to put around our heads and an inner-tube each. Next we pulled ourselves along on a rope into the cave which goes from one side of the mountain to the other with water flowing through it. I was quite scared at first because we had go through a really tight space to get in but once we were inside it wasn't too bad. Once we reached as far as we could, which wasn't that far because it's wet season, we floated back through again with the current. Before we sat down for our lunch we swam in the river next to the entrance of the cave where we were joined by lots of giant butterflies. Afterwards we walked back to the river where we got back in our kayaks. The scenery was amazing especially with Ryan ahead of me with no top on, it was like I could hardly control myself what a great day. That was Ryans contribution! Anyway, the scenery was amazing. Eventually we reached the stretch of tubing bars along each side of the river where we stopped for a while. While we were paddling along the last stretch we saw a water snake swimming across the river! In the evening we enjoyed some Vang Vieng nightlife with our friends.

The next day me and Ryan were feeling too poorly to join the Chileans tubing so we had a nice long lie-in. We also relaxed in some of the bars, most of which have comfy seats which you can lie down on and big TVs which show Friends back-to-back, yay! I'm also now addicted to ice fruit shakes which are everywhere. 

On Wednesday we went for breakfast with the Chileans and unfortunately had to say goodbye since they were moving on. Afterwards it was mine and Ryans turn to go tubing which is the main attraction of Vang Vieng. This involves hiring an inner-tube and being taken up stream to a bar. From there you float down the river from bar to bar, about 10 or so in total, until you get back to the town. Most of them have rope swings, slides and high diving boards as well which I had fun on while Ryan watched since he still didn't feel too well. A lot of the bars and their fun attractions look like they could fall apart at any minute and there were places where it looked like some of them had. Free shots are offered at most of the bars and at one of them these were whisky which had come from a bottle with a snake inside! On the river back to the town there was thunderstorm in the mountains so Ryan was freaking out a bit but really it was quite far away from us. We also bumped into a couple who we've seen lots of times since the boat trip who kayaked past us. It isn't very obvious where you get out of the river and I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to float all the way to Vientiane. We knew though because of the kayaking trip. Also, a little girl swam to us and pulled is in in exchange for a bit of money. Tubing was a lot of fun but can be really dangerous. We saw lots of people who were so so drunk who still had to get back in the river, also a lot of people end up getting back after dark.

On Thursday we decided to do a day of trekking to a waterfall on the other side of some of the mountains. It was just me, Ryan and a guide which was nice. The weather was incredibly hot though, even Kel, the guide was dripping with sweat and complaining about it. We walked across rice paddies, through jungle, up over rocks, through streams and down steep muddy banks. To get across the river at the start we had to go over a bamboo bridge which was made by and is used everyday by local people, mostly farmers. It was the dodgiest bridge ever and reminded us of the ones in Indiana Jones type movies. At other points we also had to go over streams and irrigation trenches on pieces of bamboo which also didn't feel too safe. We passed by a buffalo farm where they were all bathing in a big pool of mud. When we reached the waterfall we jumped in off a big rock and it felt so good! Kel made us some lunch there by lighting a fire and cooking rice and chicken in a big leaf, it was yummy. There were massive butterflies here too, one of which kept landing on us. On the way back we swam in the stream by the buffalos where we saw a big spider which was running on the water. When we were walking back through farmland we had to avoid a swarm of bees by crouching down which was quite scary but they luckily past over. Overall we were walking for about 4 hours. It was the terrain and the heat that made it quite challenging but we both really enjoyed it! It was really good talking to Kel as well as he told us lots of information about the area and his life.

On Friday we got on the bus headed for Vientiane.

Lots of love,

Jo and Ryan xxx