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We slept relatively well in our precarious bunks and got up early to get to the waterfall. We are so so glad we made the effort to go as it was stunning and aquamarine blue. We decided to make a sweaty 30 minute climb to the top, which would have scary had it been raining and it was super muddy. We got to the top and found what looked like really small shallow pools filled with marsh like plants and mangrove trees that we could imagine filled with snakes, but on hindsight probably weren't. We had been told we could swim at the top which we couldn't really believe as we found one pool that looked eerily deep and we couldn't see the bottom. We were about to wimp out and go down but then a Lao guide appeared and promised us that it was deep enough to dive into and was safe. Henry promptly stripped to his trunks, climbed a few branches up and jumped in from a height. He survived and told us it was lovely even though we could see a swarm of fish swim straight for his body (they only nibbled, they didn't hurt). We all shrugged, derobed and jumped in one after another. It was worth it and supercool, even though we could all imagine things swimming past our legs!
After the waterfall, we then got back and had an hour of waiting for our next bus to go to Vang Vieng. We said goodbye to the 4 Mancunjans and jumped on, with me Sam and Henry at the back and the 2 girls in the front. A NZ woman sat just in front of me and greeted me with a 'have you travelled this road before?' I replied negatively and she responded with a 'oooh, well don't be surprised if we get stopped by a group of armed bandits. They stop minibuses of westerners all the time on this quiet mountainous road to steal anything from your bags. Just give them anything they want, they killed the 2 guys who argued only last month.' I crouched down lower in my chair and mulled this over quietly. No one else had heard it so I had the option of forewarning the 2 girls who may panic and get off or keep it to myself. I stick with the quiet fear and chose the latter.
The 2 girls in front were too preoccupied with their own drama watching as 2 more girls had got in the front seats and we're kicking off they had no seatbelts. The Laotian driver didn't care at all, increasingly got more irate and started screaming 'I get other car, I get other car'. We knew he was lying. 5 minutes of arguing up the road, the girl finally believed there would be no other car and forced the man to stop to let her out. Thankfully he agreed and pulled over a tuktuk for her to return to town in. Hopefully she was OK!
Our journey continued through an increasingly mountainous road. I had images of balaclava covered bandits jumping out from every bush. I couldn't have been too worried though, 5 minutes later I was asleep.
When I woke up, there was word we may stop soon for a toilet break. The NZ woman piped up again and said that there were land mines everywhere on the side of the road so we would have to hold up a towel for each other and squat in the middle of the road for everyone to see. Shamefully, Charlotte, Gem and I did just that, stupidly picking the same place all three times so that when it was my turn to go I was in the middle of both their wee and my own. On the way back into the bus, the NZ woman exclaimed 'ooh the tyre tread doesn't look so good on this one' as she clambered on behind me. I deliberately stepped over her chair on the way back into the minibus, shaking my soggy wee covered sandals over the leather. Stupid scaremongering witch.
The rest of the journey was uneventful and passed quickly, although very bumpily and slowly as mist had descended and the driver was doing a good job of not letting us over the edge. We stopped at one cafe for a quick pit stop where there were tons of chickens (yet another tale from NZ lady that chickens over here were vicious and they could attack with their back talons). We were finally dropped off at a makeshift bus stop on the edge of town where we were clearly scammed into getting into another tuktuk to take us into the centre. Not knowing where we were staying that night, we asked to be dropped into the main area for hostels. With it bucketing it down yet again, we went into the first one and found rooms for me and the girls and another 1 for the boys. It was pretty decent with an ensuite and comfy beds for only £3!
We then went out in search of food and found a nice restaurant where we had curries and cocktails before returning to the hostel for yet another early one before tubing the next day (Henry and Sam stupidly stayed out for a couple of hours and soon regretted it the next morning)
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