So we left Vietnam and boarded the plane to Laos. Even though we've been on many flights we are still not very au fait with the whole flying thing. When they came round offering drinks we politely said "we'll just have a water please," thinking anything else would have to be paid for. We noticed the guy next to us was sipping a cool Beer Lao and that he hadn't paid either, so we pushed the attendant button and asked for 2 beers as well. We hadn't quite factored in the length of the flight and as the chilled beverages arrived the seat belt sign lit up and we started to descend. Even though we had to promptly down the beers so the table could be stowed away in the correct position for landing they were pretty damn tasty...

We arrived into Vientiane quite late along with a plethora of other travellers all trying to find somewhere to stay for the night. We hadn't had any trouble finding cheap accommodation anywhere else but Laos seemed to be really busy. So we checked into somewhere a little more expensive, but no more luxurious. We some how ended up in a terrible ex pat bar later on with a local Laos guy singing English songs very badly. We decided we'd had enough and would look round the town the next morning. We only had one day in Vientiane so we had a quick look round the temple and the beach and then got on a minibus to Vang-Vieng in the afternoon. This bus journey turned out to be a complete nightmare, not because it took forever but because a drunk Russian guy got on it. Half way through the journey the Russian guys girlfriend decided to start smoking on the back of the bus and was promptly told to put it out by some German guys. This riled the Russian who started lashing out and kicking at the Germans, the bus driver stopped the bus and just as he did the Russian said "Now I kill him!!", smashed a bottle and went at him with the broken half. Fortunately no-one was injured but when the bus driver wanted us to get back on the bus with this crazy guy we all refused, meaning the bus driver had to take the Russian to the police station on his own and then come back and pick us all up... The rest of the journey was much more relaxed after we got rid of the Russian couple and we arrived into Vang-Vieng later that evening. We headed out to some of the bars for a few drinks after checking into a hotel and found ourselves in a bar called the Bucket Bar where buckets of whisky and coke were ridiculously cheap and ridiculously laced with alcohol too. One bucket was enough and we left for what we thought was a quieter bar opposite called the Rock Bar. As we entered this bar we were handed the "Happy" menu which for starters had Magic Mushroom shakes, followed by Hash brownies and finally a joint of Opium. We kindly declined this menu, asked to see the normal drinks menu and opted for 2 beer Laos. We got chatting to an English guy who told us Jaidee's bar was open late and was really good fun, so we staggered over the bridge to find the place. He wasn't wrong Jaidee (the owner) was a complete party animal, I ordered a rum and coke and when it came he'd filled it so full of rum there was only room for 1 drop of coke. We stayed here for most of the night watching the insanity unfold; people were doing handstands while downing a funnel of beer and everytime I went near the bar Jaidee poured tequila, from a bottle with his face on it, down my throat... Needless to say the next day was a slow one, we hired some bikes in the afternoon (I'd spent most of the morning recovering in bed) and cycled down to Poukham Cave to explore the temple within the cave and to swim in the beautifully clear blue lagoon. For lunch we ate in a eco-community cafe that helps local people in the area and also accepts volunteers for anything from a day to months at a time. We'd seen bars advertising the Arsenal-United game that evening so we decided we'd stay up to watch it. We were watching the game in an Aussie bar but decided to leave before the match finished as some really pissed United fans were getting louder and louder and started getting quite aggressive with each other and the bar staff. It's been the biggest shame whilst travelling that westerners are always the ones who cause trouble while the locals just sit and put up with it! The following day we hired bikes again and went off exloring more caves and lagoons. We were thinking of missing out Vang-Vieng altogether but were really glad we didn't as the scenery in relative close proximity to the town was absolutely fantastic. Many people head to Vang-Vieng for one reason and that is the phenomenom called Tubing. You hire a lorry inner tube from town and a tuk-tuk drives you up the Mekong River where you float back down to the town. This may sound rather lame but the massive draw is that there are bars all the way down this stretch of water that serve cheap buckets of alcohol (and as mentioned before many mind altering narcotics), play loud dance music and have rope swings, slides and ziplines into the river. We cycled down to have a look what was going on and were glad we hadn't chosen to get involved, it is insane!!! It reminded us of the images you see of spring break in America with hundreds of people; drunk out of there minds, throwing themselves off very dangerous platforms; narrowly missing sharp rocks in the river below. We sat for a while with a beer, watching the chaos from the other side of the river before cycling back to the town. Apparently people die every year in the river too either from getting too drunk and drowning in the water or from falling off the rope swings and zip lines onto very sharp rocks. It reminded us both exactly where we were in the world and that this is what you can do when there are no rules and regulations.

We'd seen it all in Vang-Vieng and were ready to move on again. The next day we hopped onto a minibus and moved to a town called Luang Prabang in the North of Laos...