After the culmination of a sleeper train from Sapa, a taxi from Hanoi, a flight to Vietiane and a long visa queue, we arrived in Laos not so fresh faced but with two new Aussie mates. Some mild tourism and lunch in the town and we were back on a bus for the 5 hour journey to Vang Vieng. Laos reviled itself to be a country distinctly different from others we have visited, although initially not obviously different from Vietnam, Thailand or Cambodia the mood as calmer, the people more relaxed, it was cleaner, quieter and the hordes of giddily playful children were present in far greater numbers than anything seen before. Laos people were a happy bunch and the stress free atmosphere was very welcome.

Arriving in Vang Vieng our new travelling mates (Acacia and Sam from Melbourne) in tow we checked into Central Backpackers on the Main Street. Bags down we headed to town, a cracking bar on the river "The Otherside" was our pick, our host for the evening a charismatic Laos man who insisted on speaking in a female high pitched voice whilst moving his eyebrows up and down rapidly. He piled us with food and free buckets (a sand castle bucket filled with local whiskey, coke and super redbull x10 at least) a powerful concoction designed to get your night off with a bag. Merrily we chatted and laughed until the constant touts asking us to join a beer pong competition became to much and we headed to the local night spot. Beer pong was regrettably off the cards but we played some pool and drank some more until we found our selfs inexplicably in a night club. Sufficiently drunk we called it at night some time the following morning.