Howdi ho from your favourite sweaty, sore-bottomed travellers!

Been out-and-about cycling around the islands here in Si Phan Don (Four Thousand Islands), fearing for our lives everytime we pass groups of children who like to chase you and jump on the back of your bike...Joe was so distracted by laughing at me panicking the other day when we found ourselves in this rather sticky situation that he didnt realise a small person had attached himself to his back wheel! Another concern is the amount of very wee people out here weilding machettes and large knives.....obviously the norm as their parents seem totally unphased!

Smaller than children but even more frightening and life-threatening.....SPIDERS....are beginning to invade my life. It's pretty bugtastic here, and while our little hut on the edge of the mekong (complete with hammocks out on the patio and a beautiful garden) is very very cute, i still find i am on edge and ready to run at any moment! We saw one the other night which (despite Joe's insistence that i am over-exaggerating) was OFFICIALLY the size of my face...moved at the speed of light also so i was out of there. Mum - thought you would also like to know that there are bats living just outside our hut - one flew right over Joe's head the other night. He screamed out and panicked 'it's in my hair, it's my hair...'......no, not really! I would be more concerned that it might get caught in his 'GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARD'!!!! Film, anyone? anyone, film?

But seriously, despite the bugs-a-plenty its very beautiful down here in South Laos - pace of life is veeeerrry slow (great, except when your starved half to death and have to wait not far off an hour for anything to eat. The other day it took half an hour for the girl we ordered lunch off to report back that they had no bacon to make the sandwhich i had ordered!!!)...eeeerm where was i.......yes so slow pace of life, lots of palm trees, mekong speeding past - all very beautiful. Have seen some AMAZING storms out here also. Our sleeper bus from Vientiane the other day to down here was one of the best experiences so far (im easily pleased!) as i lay back with my tunes on and watched out the window at the most impressive storm iv ever seen. Lightening lit up miles of the horizon, and so frequently, i was totally captivated and couldnt drop off for ages!

Pre-Vientiane (which was also beautiful by the way - the quietest city ever, capital city in fact, very french-esque and picturesque...pics to follow when we have faster internet access) we were in Vang Vieng. We did a day out caving and tubing. Was under the impression we were justy going to take a casual stroll around and pop into a couple of easy-to-access caves, especially when they reassured me twice that flip-flopes would be fine. Never believe anything they tell you out here (buses always take longer, tours always include hidden costs, FLIP FLOPS ARE NEVER SUFFICIANT!) - a few of us who did stupidly believe the agency ended up clambouring up and down really steep jagged rocks and across very slippery cave floors barefoot!!! It was so dangerous and scary, but looking back now with both ankles still intact also really fun! The best thing about the day was our group - we were with two Oz girls Nicky and Kate, and two scottish guys Callum and Sammie. We all got on so well that we met up later that evening for drinks. Such a nice bunch of people. The tubing was good also but pretty random - very much set up to suit most of the people who were out there, ie. supplying lots of alcohol and 'happy shakes', 'mushroom omeletes' etc, you get the picture! There was so many people totally wasted, writhing around in mud and jumping into the river that it was pretty scary. Me and joe were the two boring, sober, old-codgers in the corner tutting and shaking our heads disapprovingly at the drunken rabble! ha! The whole place - Vang Vieng - was a bit odd like that really, not really a town but just 2roads set up with bars and cafes playing 'Friends' episodes all day long (not actually complaining about that bit!), selling lots of drugs and alcohol and making tubing easy and cheap...loads of people just stayed for ages, tubing day after day after day - bit sad really. Anyway, was a fun experience!

So, next stop is Cambodia and the infamous Temples of Angkor...really looking forward to it though not the rather mysterious and probably very arduous border crossing tomorrow. Will update you all once on the other side!

Lots of love and hugs, missing you all as always.

Vic and Joe

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