So we got back from Vang Viene yesterday afternoon. We decided to have Traditional Laos Herbal massages (since they're only $5 for 1 and a half hours!), which was a very pleasant experience. It involved stretching and massaging and then being massaged with a hot pillow filled with steaming herb - felt like I was being seasoned - half expected to be plopped in a giant cooking pot at the end! Also managed to drop my gasses on the floor at the beginning so Claire and I spent a good few minutes scrambling around on the floor trying to find them before the masseuse came back (it was very dark)!

Today we tried to go to a few shops, but sadly it's Sunday and everywhere is shut! Went to the temple where the festival is - it's the finale today, so all the monks were giving alms this morning and there have been processions during the day. We're gong back tonight for the fireworks!

Was a funny experience at the festival today because they had marked out a large pitch. A security guard told us they were going to play hockey - so we waited to see. The hockey players all had, what looked like, homemade sticks! And there were about 5 different teams. Then the match started and there seemed to be 4 different types of teams/players on the pitch, including a lot in green who carried drums and tambourines to play music whilst the game went on!! It was really bizarre, because these people in green followed the players around the pitch, beating the drums faster when the match became more exciting! Made us laugh lots! Even the umpires had sticks and seemed to join in! And, as Claire remarked - the players were very old! Was fun to watch.

Tomorrow we're off to a town called Phonsovan to see the Plain of Jars, Should take us about 9hrs to get there by bus, so we're hoping to get there before dark!!