Vang Vieng

6 hrs later we were dropped in the middle of a dusty road which was apparently the main road of Vang Vieng! Straight in the bag for the Lonely Planet we were soon heading for some river-view Bungalows. We met a friendly Norweigen Guesthouse owner who showed us to some rooms for only £3.33 a night, as we were planning to spend most of the time out and about (tubing and buckets) this was the perfect base - well for us anyway, Betty and Dan moved the next day cos the en-suite toilet wasn't the best air freshener for their room!

We scoffed a chicken salad baguette each and sorted a Tuk-Tuk (who ripped us off) to the Blue Lagoon and caves, poor Betty had smashed her toe at the pool in Luang Prabang so it was just the 2 of us and 'the essex girls'! We explored the caves which were pretty cool, nearly ended in me falling off a wall and taking Sinead out and Leanne fell and ripped the arse of her pants! Good fun!

Back down to the Blue Lagoon to cool off, we were all sweating buckets after the steep hike and clamber around. It was more of a river than a lagoon but was lovely and clean, full of fish and had some rope swings and jumps off a tree. There were a good bunch of people around including the usual drunken lads but we steered pretty clear regardless of their attempts to entice the girls :)! Back on the Tuk Tuk at warp speed over the bumpiest roads, he was pissed with us for ruining his chance of ripping off a bunch of Germans as well as us!

Leanne bought Betty some chicken nuts to bring back which cheered her up no end, not to mention the 3hr nap she'd had! (That girl can sleep anywhere:) ) We also bumped into the Norweigen owner who asked if he could help us . . .he'd already forgotten we were checked in there! We explained who we were and his response was a chuckle followed by 'I drink too much', it did seem that way :)

All refreshed, we set off for food . . . .1st restaurant empty . . . 2nd restaurant empty . . . .and so on UNTIL a Scottish lad was shouting 'Free bucket with every main meal' . . . . .we were in, along with just about every other European in Vang Vieng. Food was average, buckets were ok (Whisky coke and red bull I think) but we had a laugh and asked for the bill! Dinner for 6 plus buckets, less than £15 total, we couldn't believe it! The same lads out front then enticed us to their next bar, simply named 'The Bucket Bar'. Needless to say, a few more buckets were consumed and we even had a go at a 'Flaming Limbo' before all heading home a bit worse for wear but all in one piece (although Dan and I were stinking of fuel from the limbo), so much for a quiet night before tubing on the river!

A full english was the first thing on order for today before we went for our tubes (for those who don't know, tubing is basically a bar crawl down the river on an inner tube with various bars, swings, jumps and slides - very sensible I hear you say!) We got our rings and tuk tuk to the launch point but it was over an hour before we hit the water, we were all hung over and regretting burning the candle at both ends the night before (some more than others ahem!) As it turns out, the first 3 bars are where most of the action is anyway so we were fairly quick to get into the flow and absorb the atmosphere . . . .a 15m jump board straight in the river had the desired effect for dan and I, to be followed shortly by a big rope swing and a huge launch slide! Neesha and Sinead managed to stay practically dry all day (other than the massive shower we had that lasted most've the afternoon) probably the best way as the rest of us felt rough the day after due to the crap water we were in and probably digested! (Obviously nothing to do with the cheap Whisky)

We hit the water to try and get back before dark and drop our rings back for our deposit, Sinead, Neesha and Betty got out early and returned by tuk tuk whilst Leanne, Dan and I began to motor down to complete the full stretch, it was so peaceful and the scenery and sunset were absolutely stunning, a really enjoyable experience but it's easy to say how people get carried away! (apparently there's a big clamp down on the bars in Laos at the minute to re-enforce the 11-12pm curfew)

A relaxed night was had at the same restaurant (minus the buckets) and we all had an early(ish) night. Thursday morning came and it was time to say cheerio to Dan and Betty, they have up to a month in Laos and after a week together it was sad to leave them! Still tired from the 2 day party, the 4 of us (we were still with Leanne and Neesha) boarded the mini-bus for Vientiane, hadn't heard much about the place so were interested to see what it was about . . . it didn't take long.

S&M