Good afternoon uk, although i am writing this blog in kuala lumpur on the 4th January 2012 I should really say happy christmas to all for the appearances of the blog.

Tina and I actually felt quite sad to leave luang prabang due to having such a nice chilled time there but we were also excited at the prospect of 'Tubing' in vang Vieng. We checked into our rather over spacious hotel called Phu Khan Am II after our 5 hour bus journey from luang I will simply start with a back to the future quote "roads, we don't need roads where were going". Unfortunately we were not in the flying dolorean car and we did nerd roads but they just do not exist. 5 hours spent bumping up and down on a bus with no suspension while clutching manically onto your seat while out the window you can see the bus tyre edging closer to a vertical cliff face below- pleasant this was not.

We decided as always to look around the village/town but to be honest this was pretty much done from our tuk tuk drive through it and there was very little. we walked down to the river an cross a bridge across to where signs directed you to caves. We ended up climbing a mountain side for about half and hour until we could not work out if we were lost or had merely passed the caved which was a small crater like shape in the rock. We got to the bottom unimpressed by the this but a small Laotian man then pointer around the corner and "lake, swimming", things were looking up. Unfortunately the around the corner was not what as advertised by the over enthusiastic little man as we walked for about an hour into the forest taking in the mountain views. We eventually came to a small group and a Hungarian girl all of whom looked disappointed as a guide had informed them it was not round the corner but a further 6km into the jungle. We politely declined the guides invitation to take us in and returned to the riverbank for a drink.

Strangely all of the bars (and there are alot of them) have a TV and only show either friends episodes or family guy episodes. Your initial feeling is not to stay in one but there is something quite homely about sitting by the water on laid out cushions and watching episodes of shows that you have seen hundreds of times before.

The following day was upon us quickly and the eagerly anticipated 'tubing' was but a half an hour away. As with alot of the travelling so far the trips are full of Australians whom I originally had a lot of time for but after 3 monks of them I will never watch neighbours again put it that way.

The rag tag tuk tuk takes you down to the river and a glance down it you see large bars overhanging the river playing loud dance music. The first port of call before crossing the bridge to the first bar was a small but selling malberry mojitos whose profits supposedly go to the local school. If this was done in England there would be an hour long speech about health and safety but here you just sign a 'an in the event of death we will not sue' and then start the drinking. You are marked with a number (mine being 194 for reference sake) on your hand much like a gladiator before entering the arena and i jokingly overheard someone say it was so they could tell who you were if you died.

We had our large rubber ring, drink in hand and proceeded across to the first bamboo bar where tables where stationed in the water or floating and buckets if cocktails being consumed. In each bar you go in they give you a bracelet so you can add to your collection as you progress down the river.

We moved on in our tube but the next bar is only about 50 metres away and they hook you into their bath like a fisherman casting off from the shore and then pulling you in.

Many cocktail buckets flowed with beer to accompany them as we progressed down the river. I go to dive off a massive ladder like construction into the cool deeper waters below and Tina and I web got up on the dance floor and strut our stuff. As the evening drew closer we realised we need to et moving but we seemed to drift to far and found ourselves along waydown the river with only a few stoned few tubers left. I also fell off my tube but grabbed on only to be dragged quite away in the shallow waters so my knees where nicely cut up by the rocks. We were eventually pleased to here the words "tuk tuk" coming from the bushes and he fished us in and took us back. To be honest I reckon we may still be floating on that river now if it wasn't for him.

Anyway i have a lot more to say but I need to get thisdone now my battery is running low. Brilliant times had and anyway has done vang Vieng tubing knows what it's all about.

Anyway we are moving from kuta, Bali tomorrow to the paradise like gili islands so I'm off to book that.

Take care all and Robbie c out for now.