We spent three nights in Luang Prabang before getting the minibus from hell (more on that later) down to Vang Vieng. Luang Prabang is a very pretty UNESCO World Heritage City with lots of temples, French colonial buildings and flower-draped archways, definitely worth a few nights. They offer elephant treks and trips to waterfalls but we'd done both in Chiang Mai so gave the organised tours a miss.

Instead we set out to spend a day exploring the town, finished at 2pm, thought wow that was quick, what shall we do now? We ended up going to the town's museum to learn more about the history of the place but it wasn't very informative. It was basically just a house filled with old belongings of past kings and queens and really abrupt, non-informative signs saying things like 'the king's throne', 'the king's sword'. We were round it in 10 minutes flat. There was a gorgeous wat out the front though which sort of made up for it.

That night we went out for a drink and ended up in a bar drinking Lao-Lao whisky cocktails with another couple. Before we knew it it was 11pm and we got to witness firsthand the strangest thing about Luang Prabang: the whole town has a curfew!! Everyone had to leave the bar at 11pm sharp and scurry back to their hotels to avoid getting locked out and/or stopped by the police. You literally are not allowed to be out past the curfew unless you get a tuk-tuk to the bowling alley cum nightclub out of town. I felt like a teenager again!

The next day it was gloriously sunny so we jumped in a tuk-tuk to the only public swimming pool in town and nabbed the last two spaces around it. We lay there for the next few hours, occasionally slipping into the delicious ice-cold water to cool off. When we left the tuk-tuk drivers waiting outside quoted us a rate three times what we paid on the way there. We walked off in disgust, as we always do when we want a much lower price - and they didn't follow us :-O We walked for about ten minutes, guessing the route and sweating profusely, until we were rescued by another tuk-tuk driver. Phew.

We went to a restaurant that night and ordered a traditional Lao barbecue. The waiter placed a bucket of hot coals underneath our table and balanced a metal dome over the top of it. This had a wide lip that he filled with hot water. We cooked chicken and buffalo on the dome and beansprouts, glass noodles and leaves in the water around the edge. Great fun, even if we did keep dropping the meat in the water and the noodles all over the table.

Yesterday we got a tuk-tuk to Luang Prabang's bus station where the minibus from hell was waiting innocently to take us to Vang Vieng. When we got closer we realised it was actually a 7-seater that has been modified so that it can take 12 people. They have managed this by putting in an extra row of seats (goodbye legroom) and three half chairs at the ends of the rows and in between the driver and the passenger seat. We were very squished but it was kind of funny at the same time. That is, until we set off. Laos has very bumpy, hilly, windy, sick-inducing roads and we were all feeling ill within half an hour. The aircon was working furiously to try and keep the car at a pleasant temperature but I think the combination of so MANY passengers, the erratic stop-start style of driving necessitated by the constant overtaking on corners and hairpin bends, and the heat of the day just proved too much for it. The aircon vents were soon spewing out hot air at our feet and we spent the entire 6 hour journey in a nauseated stupor. One good thing though: the views were amazing. Green hills and mountains everywhere. And Vang Vieng seems wicked.

We met an English couple on the bus so we all checked into a hotel together and went out for dinner once we'd recovered a little from the journey. Large beers led to cocktail buckets led to a rock bar led to another bar led to us all sitting round by the side of the road munching happily on cheeseburgers at three in the morning.

Today we feel a little delicate...