Our VIP bus turned out to be a mini van with a massive crack through the front windscreen. There would have been a time this would have bothered us, you'd be amazed how much travelling numbs you to any dangers!

We arrived in Vang Vieng that afternoon and decided to have a wander around. The town is situated in the middle of nowhere, with just a strip of bars and hostels. Everyone there seem to be quite a bit younger than us and drinking is clearly the main aim. We spent the afternoon wandering around, but unfortunately the weather wasn't brilliant (a nippy 22 degrees) so there wasn't a lot to do other than drink. Each restaurant has a movie area, so we settled down with a drink and watched 'A nightmare before Christmas' to help us get into the festive mood.

Our second day was spent tubing which is the main attraction for going to Vang Vieng. It basically consists of you sitting in the inner tube of a tractor tire and floating down the river. The scenery is out of this world, quite similar in some ways to Yangshuo, We had heard that there are bars the whole way down, so you stop off for a few drinks then continue down the river. Unfortunately there were only 3 bars for us. We later found out that the route has been changed to avoid the bars, probably because of the amount of people who die. Each of the bars offers 'happy shakes', which are basically milkshakes with either weed, mushrooms or opium mixed in. You can see why this would be a bad combination while floating down a river! So this, unfortunately, meant we had a very sober and quiet bob down the river.

Later that night we met up with everyone we had met while tubing and headed out for dinner. Vang Vieng is a very lively place that doesn't appear to sleep, even with the so say 'Laos curfew'. With every meal they give you a free bucket (like you have at the beach with a spade) of vodka and mixer. Not bad considering its mainly vodka with a shot of mixer.

Sadly with the weather not looking so good, and the holiday season upon we decided to speed our way on through to Luang Prabang, our final destination for Laos. We caught the bus the next morning and prepared ourselves for a very windy 7 hours.