So after a brief meet up with Roo I had to head south to vang a small town, which to me resembles magaluf or somewhere equally shocking, not really my scene. It's full of kids determined to get trashed. I have only one day here before cycling down to Vietienne. The main thing to do in the town is tubing. Sitting on a big rubber ring and floating 5k down stream, taking a drink at each bar. Anyways I couldn't come here and not do it even though I'm about 10yrs ol...

So after an eventful trip across into Laos, I have arrived safely and am loving it. I have been here for 3 days now. compared to Vietnam it's much more friendly, and laid back, but significantly poorer. I took the bus to Luang Prabang yesterday- yes bus not bike. It's a great place in the hills, on the banks of the Mekong river. It's a world heritage site apparently. Small winding streets and amazing looking restaurants everywhere. It's quite pricey tho- well ...

So I spent the day in Phonsavan, it has a rather harrowing history. The city was raised to the ground during the Vietnam war and the whole area was littered with bombies, cluster bombs that sprey shrapnel everywhere. There are numerous stories of entire villages being wiped out in the air strikes. I visited the plain of jars an area where there are hundreds of huge stone jars, thought to be coffins. It was sad to see the damage caused to them by the bombing. Als...

After the unsuccessful attempt to get into Laos yesterday I took the afternoon to consider my options, should I wait for the bus, if is does come it will arrive at 12.30-1pm. If it doesn't it I will have waited all morning until the heat of the day leaving me insufficient time to make it to the boarder before it closes, and not enough time to get to my planned destination in Laos; or should I sack off the bus cut my losses and head for the hills on the bike. I ch...

Following my minor breakdown, still feeling tired I decided I had too few days left to make it to Laos under my own steam. My visa expires on the 10th feb. The guide book stated if you get to Vinh a nice man called Mr Hai would arrange a bus to Laos for you. So I cycled the 30k to the closest town and got a bus to Vinh, found Mr Hai and sure enough he was happy to sell me a bus ticket to Laos for a heavily inflated price, at that stage I didn't mind paying above...