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We made it to Vang Vieng safely on the monday. The route we was on is really bad for robbery, But we had a guard with a machine gun from world war 2. Basically the bandits hold up the buses in the mountains but we took a local bus. Who would rob a bus full of locals with no money, just chickens.
Typical the first full day of sunshine and we wasted it stuck on a bus.
When we arrived we checked in to a really nice guest house at only 200 baht a night between us. That's 50000 kip. We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the town. Was quite impressed by what i saw the only downside was there wasn't many people about. We showered and and got changed and hit the strip with some lads we have been travelling with for the past couple of weeks.
The next day we had planned to go tubing. Tubing is why many people decide to come to Vang Vieng. Lets just say it puts Laos on the map. Tubing is great fun. You pay to hire a huge doughnut out for the day get in to a tuc tuc and they drop you off 3 km up the river which is the launch point. The rest after that is pretty much a blur. You float down the river getting pulled in to all these makeshift bars and get absolutely smashed. There's about 10 bars in total all with huge rope swings. The biggest being about 30 ft high and at first there quite scary but after several beers and some buckets your ready to tackle anything. We made it back safely which is surprising and went out that night and got absolutely hammered meeting people who had been tubing to.
The following day we was all feeling a bit ropey so we found one of the many bars that shows friends and chilled in there all day. In the night we got drunk again of course. As there isn't a great deal to do here you find yourself drinking too much.
The forth day we went tubing again. This is becoming quite addictive. Once again we had a great day getting drunk and swinging on the ropes floating down. I picked up a stowaway as she lost her tube some how. Not the best idea really as we struggled to stay afloat. By this time we had lost everyone so we decided to go for another drink and then had to get rescued by a boat as it was almost pitch black and swimming was getting hard to through to much drink. Think i would of made it back but not to sure about her. Drunken antics eh!!!! All good fun. Once again we all went out and smashed again. Quite a repatitave story this is as there isn't a great deal to do. The next day we just chilled again in front of the box watching more friends.
It's strange as you keep bumping in to people who we have met in other places. Everyone is on a similar route so i guess it will keep happening.
On our sixth day we got up early and went to a lagoon and a cave. The lagoon was so blue. It looked like loads of loo cleaner had been put in there. Gorgeous though. The caving was really good to. I would not recommend doing it in flip flops like us idiots though. Also pay extra to get a guide and all get a torch as this proved to be a problem to. The cave was so slippery and one tumble over the edge would off been the end of us. We went in to the cave about 800 metres. It seemed more like a mile though. Every thing was pitch black and you could here bat screams above you. Quite eerie really. If you have seen the film the Decent you would understand.
In the afternoon with a few hours spare me and mark thought we would tube one more time. Two of the three times we had tubed had absolutely poured down and it gets freezing. That's why we haven't got any tans yet. I'm in desperate need of a beach with plenty of sun.
The following day it was time to move on. We had spent six nights here. It's the same everywhere you go, you plan to stay for a couple of nights but always stay longer than intended. Any travel plans i had before i came away are now out the window really. I will still go to the same destinations but not sure on the durations. (same same, but different). Think i will be in Bali for christmas and hopefully australia for new year's the way it's going.
Anyway me and mark have gone our separate ways for a few days now. I'm currently in Vietiane and he's else where in Laos. I'm flying from here tomorrow to Hanoi, Vietnam.
A lot of people said don't come here as there nothing to see or do. There right to but it's nice to chill for a couple of days, which everyone needs. Vientiane is the capital of laos to so That's another reason for coming here.
Don't expect a blog about this place, just some pictures.
Laos in general is a beautiful country with really friendly people. Would recommend it to anyone. In asia it's known as the hidden gem by many people. I only intended to stay in Laos about 4-5 nights and have found myself here for two weeks.
Time to rock.
Hope everyone is great in england. Hope it's raining too.
Hopefully Vietnam will offer some better weather
Until next time lao kawn
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