We're in Vang Vieng! We survived! I can't pretend I'm not relieved...Although it is difficult to stay terrified for more than five minutes when you're entirely surrounded by jaw-droppingly beautiful scenery. The mountains the bus wound it's serpentine way around for 6 hours were stunning limestone karsts, covered in rich emerald with a piercing blue sky, fluffy white clouds, miles of lurid green paddy fields and a blazing sun. Gorgeous. All in all a good distraction from the lurking threat of an ambush. I took so many photos I ran out the battery in my camera but it was worth it, got some good'uns. Incidently, have you ever tried taking photos out of a speeding bus window round mountainside hairpin bends and over continuous potholes? Not easy. Got numerous shots of the floor/ceiling of the bus and a particularly good one of a tall bloke's eccentric sideburns. It's a keeper. I've decided I love Laos. It's so, so beautiful. The people are lovely and friendly like Thailand but strangely they seem to speak even better English. This proves pretty useful (well, necessary) in aiding effective communication as my knowledge of Laos extends to "Thankyou", "Thankyou very much" and "Hello". Impressive, eh? Vang Vieng is lovely but pretty small. We'll probably stay here for 2 nights I think (providing I can drag Dave away from the magic mushroom shakes, pizzas, garlic bread, tea, etc, etc) and then move on to Vientiane (the capital). There is an organic cafe here that does lots of veggie food according to God (aka Lonely Planet) so I'm off to check that out in a minute.... Enjoy yourselves, and email me you lazy gits! Loadsa love Jx