Nestled between the mist laced karsts on the Nam Song River was once the small fishing village of Vang Vieng, now however it's a backpackers haven offering Laos' biggest attraction - tubing!! You get to hire an inflatable inner tube & float down the river stopping at bar to bar, and swinging from the enormous zip lines & rope swings. The bars all compete for your business by offering buy 1 get one free on buckets of cocktails, free shots, joints & 'happy shakes', they throw a rope out to you when you float pass to pull you in (but if you're not looking can hit you). The bars are all booming with music - everything from 80's to the latest dance tracks, with everyone dancing in bikinis and shorts covered in face & body paint! It took us right back to our Ibiza and Faliraki days!!

When the 7 of us arrived from Chiang Mai we hadn't pre-booked anywhere, normally a mistake but East & Eyal managed to find two bungalows at "Nam Song River Bungalows", right on the river Mekong, with gorgeous mountain views & all the mod cons (aircon, tv etc) whilst the rest of us looked after the bags at a local cafe. Because there was 7 of us Easton managed to barter them down to 50,000kip each per night (less than £4.50), which he has come accustomed to and very good at now! Look after the pennies and the pounds look after you.

The first night we wanted to experience the nightlife (although most of the partying happens during the daytime) and we were told about Jaidee's Bar - a cool hippie styled bar with fluorescent hedonistic painting covering the walls & ceiling. The bar was one of many that legally sells 'happy shakes and reefers', with Jonboy steeling the show that night, showing some hilarious dancing, story telling and reminiscing, needless to say we all had a fantastic night!!

Our first day tubing was brilliant, but only four of us made it from a heavy night before. We'd been told that hiring an actual inflatable tube was a waste of money because you spend 95% of the time not in it and it means you have time constraints to get the tube back in time or you lose your deposit. To be honest it was, but we still had lots of fun drinking, dancing & getting bodied painted. Also watching Casey & Eyal rope swing & fly about 30ft through the air into the water kept us entertained. No - East & I were not man enough this time round (delicate stomachs). The only annoying thing about the day was East dropping the camera in a bucket full of whiskey & coke. What makes matters worst is that it had been in a water proof bag all day. Oh well these things happen & Jonboy kindly offered to let us borrow his camera for the rest of our trip….cheers mate!!

The following day we opted for something more chilled & decided to check out the Blue Lagoon & caves which were only a 7km tuk-tuk ride passing some beautiful scenery along the way. It's a perfect place to swim & dive in the crystal clear waters or just lounge around & top up your tan, which is exactly what Casey & I did whilst the guys played volley ball/football and swung from rope swings… boys will be boys. We knew we'd come back here again before we left Vang Vieng so we decided to save the caves till next time.

Our 2nd time tubing all 7 of us came & it was one of the best party days of our trip, everyone was in such high spirits & up for a laugh. On the way to the main bars we stopped off at Fluid bar & made use of the 2 4 1 offers. We were all pretty hammered by the time we'd arrived at our destination with East & JB doing handstand drinking games from buckets. JB & Jason were on top form also with dancing, arm wrestling & skipping competitions!! Check out the video's on the blog. Again more adrenaline watersports were going on & East got involved with the waterslide that drops off 20ft at the end, I was meant to take a photo of him flying through the air but only got a shot after he'd entered the water…sorry babe! I really didn't want the day to end & it was dark by the time we left - glad we didn't get the tubes this time.

We spent our last day in Vang Vieng back at the Blue Lagoon & this time we decided to see the caves, so equipped with flash light we headed up the 200ft steep mountain to the entrance. But when we got there we realized that flip flops were not the best idea so most of us only got as far as the first chamber. Casey & Jason however were a little more daring & headed off into the dark unknown. We then head for our last supper as a group and opted for an Indian - after 3 weeks of Asia cuisine a change was welcomed. It was a really nice night & a farewell to Jonboy as he headed back to England the following day but we hope to be catching up with everyone else again at the Full Moon Party in March xx