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As we said in our last blog nothing ever runs on time, we got up and had breakfast on Sunday 20th Novermber making sure we were ready for our bus to pick us up at 8.30am for Vang Vieng.. we waited and waited until about 9.30am when a tuk-tuk arrived, the manager of our guesthouse shouted to us 'Get in .. free .. free.. free' So we jumped in not even knowing what was going on, we finally arrived at the bus station, where we caught a minivan at around 10.15am. At last we were on our way.. well at least we thought we were, until the bus driver pulled up a further 10 minutes down the road '5 Minutes.. 5 minutes' he told everybody. After about 10 minutes of waiting he finally appeared in a brand spanking new shirt and shoved his overnight bag into the boot. Along we went on a bendy, bumpy, up and down road for the next 6 hours, we're not even over exageratring the roads are horrendous.
The bus dropped us off at Vang Vieng bus station therefore we had to catch a tuk-tuk into town, it was about 2km, which cost us 10,000kip (80p) each. We were sat waiting to set off when a group of cockney girls were arguing until blue in the face saying 'We're not paying 10,000kip each just to get into town, thats London prices, we'll just walk' by this point Me and Peter just looked at each other thinking where on earth in London can you get a bus or tube for 80p??? Silly Girls... anyway after 10 minutes of arguing they finally agreed to pay it and jumped in the tuk-tuk. We pulled over by the main road, our bags got chucked off the roof and there we were stood in the middle of Vang Vieng.. after walking a few steps down the next street we were approached by a guesthouse owner saying 'You want room, I've got Room' 40.000kip per night (£3.20), surely it was going to be a grotty, dull and dirty room but we had a look and to our surprise it was actually a nice room, so we snapped it up. Later that night we had a little wander around, noticing that every single bar and resturant was playing either family guy or friends repeats.
As im currently sat here writing this im drinking a coconut shake and i would just like to say its a taste sensation.. where Peter is sat drinking a beer Laos .. surprise surprise!!
Right back to where we were, Monday morning we went and bought a map of Vang Vieng and located a big cave called Phukham cave, which has a blue lagoon just before it. It was about 7km away so we decided to hire mountain bikes for the day and cycle there. Again the roads were really smooth and it was a really easy ride.. NOT .. our bums were a little sore from all the bouncing around but it was a very enjoyable ride. We arrived at the blue lagoon, very excited to get in the cold water as we were sweating from the bike ride only I noticed loads of fish in the water.. and i mean LOADS, Peter wasnt bothered about them and made his way into the water leaving me behind. The only way i was going to get in the water was by swinging from the tree swing, so i did but it still took me a while to let myself go as there seemed to be more and more fish swimming around the sides, it probably didnt help that there was a lady throwing bread into the water feeding them. We then went to dry off in the sun abit by having some lunch before setting off for the cave. To get to the entarance of the cave we had to walk half way up a very steep limestone cliff (its a good job we had walking boots on) We entered the cave with one flash light between two of us which wasnt a very good idea but thats what teamworks for isnt it?? Stumbling around in the dark we came across a buddha which was led down with the sun shining down on it through a gap of the cave, which was quite good to see. The cave got deeper and darker which was when we realised the one flash light wasnt enough, so Peter went to explore more to see if there was anything worth seeing further in the cave. 10 Minutes later he returned but to me it seemed like about an hour as i were sat on my own waiting, it felt really cold and eerie. We decided not to explore any further as it was quite dangerous, so we took a few more photos and made the tricky descent back to the lagoon at the bottom. Back on our bikes for the 7km journey back, we stopped off at a bar for some refreshments as it was scorching hot! Finally made it back to Vang Vieng, and watched the sunset with a couple of ice cold drinks! Whilst relaxing.... a hot air balloon came very near to hitting the cafe we were in... don't think we'll be going up in one of them here! That evening we went out for some tea, found a nice quiet restaurant.... apart from 2 drunken aussie brothers who were very drunk and everyone in the restaurant could hear their lovely stories, even though they were sat right next to each other! Annoying!!! Lovely food mind you.
On the tuesday we decided it was tubing time!!!
Basically tubing is.... getting a big inflatable tyre and jumping in the river with it, going downstream!
This tubing experience is slightly different though, as there are around 10 bars on the riverside with waterslides and tree swings!
That morning we filled our stomachs with some breakfast/lunch and headed off to the tube rental place. We hired our tyres and then a tuk-tuk took us 3km north of town to the start of the tubing. We were greeted by a shot of lao lao whisky at the start point.... lovely!!! At the first bar we were introduced to a new drinking game... Beer Pong! Apparently the aussies and americans are really into it and even have professional matches!! So we played against two guys, one from america and the other from MANCHESTER .. wheeey!! haha, As predicted we lost but not without putting up a decent fight. We jumped in our tyres and set off downstream stopping at a couple more bars before having a go on a tree swing, Peter went first and I just watched thinking 'Geeeze thats high, i don't think i can do that' But i stopped being a chicken and went for it, yes i had fun, no i dont remember hitting the water and yes i have a massive bruise the the whole size of my inner thigh because as Peter told me when i let go i just 'belly flopped' ..NOT a good move. Further down at another bar there was a HUGE slide and i mean huge, now this one i did chicken out of but Peter went on it 3 times, God only knows what goes through his head. By this time we were quite far from the finish so we decided to jump back in our tubes and paddle downstream. 90 minutes later and friction burn to the arms we arrived at the finish. What an experience!!
We have decided to stay in Vang Vieng for a few more days as a couple of our friends Ewan and Jess will be arriving soon, therefore we will probably do another blog when we leave and update you of our other activities we may have done.... Going out for tea now .. :-D
Love
Lucy & Peter xx
p.s There aren't any photo's of tubing, we didnt dare take our camera!!
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katrina Need to talk to Dale about beer pong, he knows the game well, so do his mates. glad still going well.