(Sorry ran out of space there)

...to change our plans and get the sleeper train to Bangkok and then do the islands before the full moon party on July 9th and then go straight to Vietnam and Cambodia afterwards. It would be a bit of a faff with getting out of Thailand and into Vietnam before our respective visas ran out but it was pretty much the only option avaialble. However, when we got back to the rat-infested hostel some girls that we had met on the bus from Vang Vieng told us that they had bought a bus ticket from the hostel to take them to Hanoi the following day. All very confusing. We went to enquire with the ahem lovely, helpful men who worked at the hostel but they didn't seem to have a clue what we were talking about and when we asked if we bought a ticket but the bus didn't come would we get our money back they said "no" and seemed to find this hysterically funny. We bought a ticket anyway as it was only the equivalent of ten pounds and if we lost out it would be on less money than if we were to change our plans and mess around with visas and flights to Vietnam etc.

After a surprisingly good nights sleep considering the accomodation we spent the next day exploring Vientiane which is actually very French in style. However I think we still had the worry of whether or not the bus would actually come at 5pm as promised hanging over our heads. 5pm rolled around and miraculously a mini-bus rolled up. We thought we were on to a winner until it simply dumped us at another hotel in Vientiane for 2 hours. After an agonising wait in which we were sure we had been ripped off a bus eventually turned up wooooooo! The bus was actually pretty nice by Laos standards despite the fact that they had Ibiza Uncovered blaring out for the entire journey and a video of an underwear modelling show on the tv...weird. We arrived at the Vietnamese border after about 8 hours of travelling but had to wait for another 4 hours until it opened. During this time I saw a vast array of local wildlife including what looked like wolves and killer pigs that moved at the speed of light (!).

Eventually we were allowed to cross the border and began on our way through Vietnam. We travelled for about another 2 hours until the 5 of us that were supposed to be going to Hue were chucked off at a cafe in the middle of nowhere and told we had to wait for another bus. We thought we were 100% stranded but after another agonising hour of waiting, lo and behold a bus eventually turned up. Their transport might not be the most conventional but at least it actually arrives unlike National Rail!

To be continued...