Vickie and I had to go to the post office before the boat which sounded like an easy task except that the post office was on Asian time so of course it didn't open until 15 mins after the bus was meant to leave!! Doh, We got back and the people shouted at us a bit, the rest of the group had gone and so we were ushered onto another minibus, left our lunch behind, crossed the river and were told we had at least an hour to wait after we got our visas before we could continue to Luang Probang!! So, the rush was obviously extremely necessary! lol We teamed back up with our bus group and all went for our first Laos coffee (which puts hairs on your chest for sure!!!) (Not that I have a hairy chest, it was just strong!!! lol). We got to know each other pretty well in that hour and had a good giggle as Marc from spain educated us on the definition of sexy and promised us salsa dancing later on!! Charlotte had been volunteering in India and I think inspired everyone to want to work on the project at that point in time!! Also on board was a lovely aussie couple, Zoe and Tim

We watched nervously as the guys tied our bags onto the roof of the bus and hoped that they were secure then onto the minibus we went picking up a French stray, Maxime. If I were to describe the next 12 hours in one word it would be 'bumpy'!! Fun though and as I'm now quoted by various people around SouthEast Asia, 'It's all part of the holiday'.

we arrived in Luang Probang around 12.30am so took the first guesthouses that'd take us. The busbuddies met for brekkie then Vickie, Marc (spanish salsa dude) and I rented bicycles (complete with basket, love it) to see the sites of the lovely little Frenchified town. pretty much what we did was stop at cafe after cafe, as we came across different people we'd met, drinking coffee and having snacks (is there any better way to spend the day!) until we met Zoe and Tim who'd also rented bikes. We intended then to look around the museum for a bit of Laos culture but what do you know...closed, doh! Well, we were in agreement that there was only one thing for it - Wine and cheese!!! Parking the bikes up on the street, who needs locks in this lovely place? We thoroughly enjoyed a hearty cheese platter and a robust red wine (I know what I'm talking about yes!) so it was a real shame when we went back to the bikes and Vickie's was gone! DOH silly silly silly nasty thieves. So, a plan...a plan to get my passport back before they blackmail us into paying millions of pounds for a rusty basket bike (so pretty but old). Zoe, Tim and I took a leisurely cycle back to the place where the passport was required for 'flight booking' so managed to swap it for my out of date student card, woo. Then it was time to come clean and thankfully, our busbuddies stood by us to half the amount they originally demanded although they would've got a replacement for about half what we paid but oh well (all together) 'it's all part of the holiday'!!!

Well after that drama, Charlotte hit the nail on the head with 'I think better go for cocktails'! 'Yes' we chorused, and so we did and were treated to a bit of a Laos fashion show and a funny toilet that had to be photographed of course - the cubical was so small you had to took your knees in and make do with your face being squished against the door, it's an art I tell you. There was lots of dancing to follow with Marc showing some salsa moves as promised and then everywhere closed down about 11.30pm except... the bowling alley!! How random. We got a tuk tuk over and people were hanging out the back. I refused to let Vickie as it was too dangerous so shoved her back to the front and then...hung out the back yelling how fun it was!! (Sorry Vickie) The bowling alley was jam packed full of drunkards but I couldn't believe that they were all actually playing aswell as drinking, amazing. There were some shocking scores coming out, think I got about 18 or something, oh the shame.

Marc, Maxime, Vickie and I got a tuk tuk back together and it was tricky to tell where we got dropped off so, fed up of talking and in need of bed, I went in search of our guesthouse...little did I know we had been dropped off outside it!! Doh, it looks so different when everything's locked up so I arrived back to a very pissed off Vickie who'd been locked out and stood outside for about 45 mins while I walked around in a circle! (Sorry Vickie!)

The 4 of us met our other buddies for a hangover breakfast and to say goodbye as they were staying in L.P a bit longer. The bus journey wasn't as bumpy as the first but it sure was windy and therefore a little emotional for the first part but we soon got talking to our new buddies, another aussie couple Tracy and Graham, and it wasn't long until we started playing 20 questions which then lasted the entire journey to Vang Vieng (only about 5 hours). Vang Vieng introduced us to a whole new wonderful world of restaurants perfect for tubing hangovers. We decided to delay tubing until the following day and spend a few hours chilling out a bit working our way around friends, family guy and movies until it was time to check out the infamous q and bucket bars.

We started at Q bar which was ok until the speakers broke so a bar full of people milled around a bit chatting. Me Vickie and some English guy, Will decided to take to the stage and make our own music choosing the YMCA and New York New York and then, would you believe, the bar emptied!! A couple of English girls asked if they could tag along, and who are we to turn down strays, so Claire and Angela joined us to the bucket bar. I later found out that I'd nearly kicked Angela in the head when singing New York, woops!

Vickie was feeling a bit poorly and went home so I sought out Claire and Angela again but only found Claire and together we decided it was bucket time (about 0.5 litres of whisky, coke and redbull) but it'd take too long to walk 90seconds around to the bar so we should just nip through the hole in the fence! Someone said on our way that it was a bit dark and to be careful but like that's exciting eh! So we stride forward confidently together into the dark when I disappear down a whopping great ditch the size of a mass grave (see facebook profile pic) part covered by the bit of fence that was broken to make the hole!! Lying on my face my first thought was snakes and then I looked up and thought I was in a grave!! Argh, I could hear a confused Claire asking where I was and then when I popped up she collapsed in hysterics and was in no condition to help. I couldn't find my shoes or climb out as it was all sand that slid away so I was a little screwed at this point but it was funny still. And then.... Maxime came round the corner like a knight in shining armour, 'MAXIME' I shouted, and he turned with a look of suprise to see my head sticking out of the ground. I found my shoes and Maxime was able to pull me out like a rag doll, my hero!! He had to get me back out again after aswell as I'd left my jacket but it was all good and we still went through that fence hole for the buckets!

There was this gorgeous french cafe opposite our guesthouse that we went to for brekkie and were completely spoilt for choice. The poor woman had waited ages for my order so under the pressure I excitedly ordered a continental breakfast and waited in anticipation as the others food came out - delicious chocolate cake, some kind of yummy soup etc and then mine arrived...2 humungous baguettes with one measly packet of jam!! DOH gutted. Vickie then pointed out that, in the menu, not only did it describe exactly this but there was a photo. I still can't understand what happened there in my head.

On the search for internet we found Claire and Angela to have another good laugh about the ditch and arranged to meet up at tubing.

Tubing: floating down the river on a rubber ring (tube) while bars on either side throw out plastic bottles on string to pull you in for free shots of whiskey with snakes/hornets in and then you swing or zipwire into the water trying crazy tricks and get covered in crude sayings written in permanent marker (or if you were a victim of mine, penguins and pigs!) acquiring bracletts and bandanas for various bars. It's not really a good idea to do this without insurance but who's sensible these days, at least I had insurance for the highly dangerous temples of Angkor!!

After tubing all afternoon it is of course imperitive that you continue to the bucket bar for the evening and so we did. We lost Vickie along the way as she went to our room for the toilet and I found her passed out in bed. It was just me and Maxime for most of the night (think he was scared I might fall in another ditch) bumping into randoms and joining the odd drinking game then came fire limbo. I missed the fire part but it was still in tact so I gave it a go and the Laos guy running it was so impressed he picked me up and started bouncing me around...for ages!!! I did feel like a winner though.

We were all a bit knackered the next day so spent it chilling out in the tv restaurants recovering. We went for a little explore around and then Vickie and I checked out bus prices for getting to Vientiane and found a pick up truck option for about a quid cheaper than the buses which we though could be interesting....it was!

We met the boys for breakfast to say good bye and then a tuk tuk picked us up to go to the 'bus station'. We didn't get to any bus station, they flagged down anothe tuk tuk with about 8 people in so we had to shuffle around a bit to fit. They stopped at a rice place and a crazy red eyed man came storming out trying to hit our driver and they were all shouting in Laos while me and Vickie didn't really know what to do with ourselves!! We continued on and all the locals got dropped off so we though 'sweet' our own tuk tuk to Vientiane but then... they turned around!! We thought they might have forgotton they had us but they chased after another tuk tuk to flag them down. We thought they must be joking surely as this one had 10 people inside and 4 on the back!!! Plus we'd been going an hour already and still not left Vang Vieng which is not a big place at all. They weren't joking, we managed somehow to squish onto the seatswith all the locals and all their shopping and set off again. Then, 2 of the ladies started rearranging their purchases pulling dead rats out of bags to inspect and put in different bags! Vickie started heaving and had to focus her attention outside but it actually made me want to try rat strangely enough (I havn't yet).

Over the next 3 hours people got off and more got on. the most we counted was 27 people and one pig!! It was definitely and experience an opportunity to feel like locals and, lets face it (all together) 'it's all part of the holiday'! lol

Arriving in Vientiane, we decided a drink (soft) was in order before we even thought about trying to find a guesthouse! Later we went for a look around for somewhere to eat and bumped into a couple of tubing mates Rafael and Paulo from Chillie. I'd drawn Rafael his very own zoo on his back that he was still oh so chuffed with!! haha

We were reunited with L.P busbuddy Charlotte for breakfast and arranged to meet again later for dinner and of course, cocktails. There wasn't much to do in Vientiane (that we knew of) so we ended up testing out our sober bowling skills (mine weren't much better) and playing pool after which, Vickie was chased up the drive by a Laos guy wanting her phone number and probably her hand in marriage! haha We decided an early cocktail and some snacks wouldn't hurt so found a nice pub to settle in for a bit and then went to meet Charlotte and try to figure out flights to Cambodia for the next day. We decided we'd brave trying to get a ticket at the airport next morning.

We had to leave at 5.00am apparently in order to get there in time to buy a ticket but the the ticket office didn't even open til 6!! Not a funny joke but we did have a nice suprise at the airport when we found Claire and Angela checking in for the same flight!!

It's gotta be one of the best parts of travelling, bumping into people over and over.

So, Laos was pretty much a party scene, we did sadly miss an amazing waterfall (from what we heard) in Luang Probang but we had a brilliant time!! Next stop, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

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