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Heya Guys. Had a busy week. We're in Luang Prabang at the moment. Lets see, where did we get to? After arriving in Vang Vieng we went on our kayaking, caving and trekking tour. Was amazing. We went to four caves in total. The first one was a temple cave with a large buddha footprint in it and a stalacmite in the shape of an elephant. the second and third were amazing. Huge stalactites and rock formations. Half way into the second cave the guide told us to turn our torches off. Was pitch black and really eery and silent. Your ears picked up every sound - It was actually quite scary. The forth cave was my favourite. There was a small pool outside and we each got into a tube (Literally an old tractor inner tube). We then made our way over to a crack in the wall opposite. Only about a foot high above the water. We had to pull ourselves along by the ceiling until we reached a rope inside. Was really calm floating along in the dark. After we came out we headed to the water for kayaking. This was great fun. 17km down the river with white water in places. We had great fun splashing our guide and the other couple who were on the trek with us. About three kilometres from the end we reached the bars where people tubed from (More about these later!) In the evening we met up with Kerry, Jess, James and Cat, some friends from uni, and went tyo the restaurant where our guide worked.
Next day we decided to go tubing. Someone had said that the best way is to buy your own tube and go down rather than hire one. After searching the town, however, we couldn't find a single store that sold them. Apparently due to the tourist income it was illegal to sell them in the area. A couple said in shifty tones that they ncould get hold of a couple but not six, so admitting defeat we asked a tuk-tuk driver where we could hire them from and he told us that he would take us to the start where we could hire them. However when we got there he sped off and we were stuck at the first bar with no hire shop in site. Apparently the only hire place was in town. After speaking to one of the barmaids we decided to try and swim the route. Apparently it was very easy, only 3-4km. We chilled at the bar, had a few drnks and had a go on the giant rope swing over the water. At each of the bars there were interesting ways to amuse (or kill) oneself. The rope swings swung out about 20m over the water and there were also zip lines, a slide and even a bar that had a mud bath. We stopped here and had a tug of war contest with some other travellers over the pool of mud, which we won (of course!) and then headed to the final bars. There was about a 1km swim which shoiuld have been easy due to the strong current. However once we got about 300m out we realised that there was a reason people hired tubes. About a foot under the water there were sharp rocks jutting out and it was impossible to stand due to the strong current. Instead we were dragged the next kilometre over the rocks and through white water until we arrived, battered and bruised, at the last bar. Here we managed to grab hold of some other travellers tubes who were completely off their heads and welcome of the company. Half way down Jess, Cat, Sarah and James (Other James) managed to get out of the water but me and Kerry were carried by the current so had to ride out the rest of the journey with our new found friends. We eventually managed to pull ourselves ashore at the end and met the others in the town.
The next day me and Sarah hired a motorbike and explored the surrounding area then we went tubing again (This time with tubes) and the experience was a lot more fun. We met up with some other travellers that kerry, Jess and co had met earlyier on and went out and got extremely drunk. Was a hilarious evening. We were just drinking however there were others on far more stronger substances as it was so easy to get hold of. The bars handed out menus with opium shakes and Mushroom Pizzas on them. Crazy!
Me and Sarah hired a bike again and explored one of the local caves. It was set about 100metres up a mountain and was very pretty. Outside was a small spring which we had a swim in then headed back. We were going to visit more but we ot caught in a monsoon and, not wanting to crash our motorbike on the slippery road, decided to head back.
We then headed out to Luang Prabang which is where we are now. Will tell all soon.
xxx
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