Vang Vieng, Laos

Sabai dee - hello

Our way to Vang Vieng on our minibus was great at first. We met a couple from Denmark and a couple from Canada that were on the bus with us. It was very mountainous terrain along the way and our minibus was struggling from the get go. We knew we were in for the long haul when it started smoking. The driver pushed the bus as far as it would go until it was stuffed basically. They didn't speak any English and we didn't know what was going to happen and we were in the middle of nowhere! They gestured for us to get out and start walking up the hill. We were all sticking out our thumbs to catch a ride. The six of us ended up catching a ride in the back of a cattle truck the remainder of the 200km to Vang Vieng. Was funny in the end but sore on the old backs.

After our long journey we found our accommodation and checked into Sisavang guesthouse, rooms were good and clean and cheap. We freshened up then went out to find some dinner. We had a real craving for some pizza, we found this great little place and ordered a big feed and a bucket to share. We ended up joining tables with an English couple Jordan and Kathy. We got along really well and all ended up getting unexpectedly drunk together. We don't remember walking home but we made it and woke up the next day with very sore heads. We wasted the whole day in bed really ill. The following day we met up with Kathy and Jordan again and went Tubing!! I took our dive camera so we could get some great shots. It's on the Nam Song River and their are bars lined up on both sides of the river. The music was loud and everyone was in the mood to party. Most the bars had swings from them that you could swing from into the water. Or big slides from the bars into the water. We had the best day! If you wanted to stop at a bar they would throw you a line and pull you in, give you a free shot of whisky and half price drinks. We stopped at one bar that had mud volleyball, we all had our shots of whisky and played a game of volleyball in the mud, was so much fun and very messy. Luke hurt his big toe nail and almost tore it off, was really sore for him for a few days but he is all good now.

Had some amazing photo's on our camera and we couldn't wait to put them up to show everyone cause its one of those one of a kind of places. Unfortunately the camera disappeared never to be seen again.
We were so devastated but were still quiet drunk. We finished the tubing just in time before 6pm so we could get our deposit back. We met up with Kathy and Jordan again and went to have some dinner. We were all so drunk and loud when we think back on it and we had met a crazy guy throughout the day from Alabama. For some reason we thought it was the funniest idea to all talk in Alabama accents, this went on for quite some time. We feel sorry for the rest of the restaurant. Lucky for us Vang vieng is a pretty laid back sort of place. We said our goodbyes before parting ways, they said they would show us the real London when we came over that way, so we are really looking forward to meeting up with them again.
The next day we mourned for our photo's and camera and spent the day in bed again hungover. We did get out and actually do something besides drink, believe it or not!

We did a full day caving/tubing/kayaking trip. Went to an amazing labyrinth of water caves in our tubes. We kayaked 8kn down the river to Vang Vieng. The day was spent with four other people, two were from South Korea, one from Taiwan and one from China. They all spoke broken English and it was very funny having conversations in English. All were really nice guys and fun to be with. The Chinese guy was particularly funny. We stopped at one of the tubing bars on the way through and shared a bucket and had a few swings from the bar into the water. Fun day in the end. Tomorrow we leave on a bus to Vientiane and then catch the sleeping bus to Hanoi, Vietnam. 26hrs in total, wish us luck!