We were up at 0530 as Paul wanted to take part in the alms giving ceremony, whereby 60/70 local monks walk down the street collecting sticky rice and food from the villagers. They rely on alms to eat and drink as they live a very harsh and Spartan existence.
Women are not allowed to talk to them or come into contact with them, so Marion stood across the road as they all filed past in complete silence while Paul filled their bowls with sticky rice and snacks which had been ordered from the hotel kitchen the night before. Some monks are as young as 12 yrs old and do this every morning 365 days a year.
Next came a river boat trip along the Meekong, which we ordered privately. We were dropped off at a couple of villages where people were either engaged in beautiful silk weaving or making/selling Laos whisky. Tequila drinkers will remember some brands have scorpions in the bottle, the Laos whiskey have Cobras in them! Whatever, because we didn't buy any!

On the morning of the 19th we were picked up and taken to the bus station for the 6 hour coach trip to Vang Vieng. That's the good news. What happened next became the road trip from hell!
We booked a VIP bus and were confronted with an old mini bus. About 20 people had booked the same ticket. We departed on time at 0930 and at 0950 the suspension snapped! We all got off in a remote and desolate area and waited 2 hours for a replacement bus. The replacement bus finally arrived complete with cracked and broken windscreen, no air conditioning, filthy beyond words and older than us!
Clearly, the driver had no idea how to drive it because he kept cranking the gears to an alarming level. People were becoming increasingly concerned because the road to Vang Vieng is considered to be the most dangerous road in SE Asia. We all protested and decided to get off and demanded yet another bus.
3 hours later, our third bus arrived, and our luggage was loaded for the third time.
True enough, the mountain roads were dangerous and at times very scary. Full of hairpin bends, sharp, steep curves, no crash barriers. How the mountain tribes we passed, survive in those conditions is beyond me. We even saw men carrying sub machine guns and they're not used for hunting!
Driving at 10klms an hour and barely passing huge trucks en route became mind numbingly tedious and boring. It was night time by now and we should have arrived at 3.30pm. We finally arrived at 1045pm and no tuk tuks in sight. Some passengers had no hotel reservations and facing the prospect of sleeping in a bus shelter.
Paul commandeered a tuk tuk out of nowhere to deliver us to the hotel.
A truly awful day and a trip never to be forgotten. Coach or mini van is the only means of travel to Vang Vieng. What should have taken 6 hours, took 13 hours.
Why did we come here, I hear you ask. The answer is its breathtakingly beautiful scenery, which we got appreciate the following morning.