Sabaidee and hello to Laos, the Land of a Million Elephants, although actually we didn't see a single one!  Laos and it's mass of rolling hills and running streams proved more beautiful than we could have imagined.

After thirty (yes that's right 30) hours on a bus from Vietnam we arrived in Vang Vieng, a village high in the mountains and pissing down with rain.  Soaked to the bone and ridiculously deprived of sleep, we quickly found a guesthouse complete with duvets no less and settled for a quick nap.  When we woke, the rain had passed and the sky cleared so we took a walk and explored the town.  Vang Vieng has a unique charm; the town itself was nothing out of the ordinary, according to what we had been used to, and resembled a mini Ko Pha Ngan littered with many cafes and lazy houses showing Friends round the clock.  But the mountainous backdrop was truly spectacular so much so that it didn't quite seem real, fogged by a thick haze, as if it was quite unexpected in contrast with the town. 

The next day we explored further following a less touristy trail along the river where it was so quiet the silence was deafening.  We followed the path back through to the town, stumbling across a massage parlour along the way to relieve our aches and pains from the horrendous bus journey.  Since there wasn't a great deal of action in this sleepy town, we chilled out for the rest of the day and who should we bump in to but our long term travel buddy Roy!  Obviously having spent less than a week apart we had some serious catching up to do...

On our last full day in Vang Vieng, the three of us set off to the river for some hardcore tubing, which basically entails floating down the river in a rubber ring and stopping at the makeshift bar shacks dotted across the banks along the way.  So off we went, or at least Els and Roy did, leaving me stuck in shallow waters whimpering with panic and flailing my arms and legs about as I tried to take off.  No sooner had i managed to reach deeper waters, Els called Beer O'Clock (a very common and important hour of day out here) and out we all got.  The second bar proved more interesting: feeling braver after some dutch courage, we watched as Roy jumped from a wooden platform towering high over the river and decided 'we want to do that!'.  After the count of three and a few last minute nerves (we-might-hit-a-rock-and-die blah blah blah) we jumped hand in hand, feeling the time slowly pass as we fell through the air - hopefully looking something like the sexy French girl from 'The Beach' - and landing about as gracefully as two elephants on speed.  Exciting stuff!

A few beers later (incidentally Beer Lao is the best in SE Asia and must be tried by anyone who claims to know and like their beer) we moved on to bigger and better things, swinging from handlebars attached to a wire in true cirque du soleil style, launching ourselves from greater heights still and landing with equally less finesse.  Once we realised that our acrobatic pipe dreams were well and truly over, we floated dreamily (that would be the Beer Lao) down the river once more, taking in the breathtaking scenery and enjoying the blissful nothingness with not a care in the world. Not a single one...

The next morning we took the short bus ride to Luang Prabang (seven hours meaning nothing to us by this point).  Along the way we got chatting to a lovely girl called Helen, who we like to think of as the classic brit - forthright as hell - but how refreshing having encountered so many strange Americans who just do not understand the notion of sarcasm dammit!  The three of us (having said our goodbyes to Roy once again) headed down to the night market and for this i have only two words: Shopping Heaven.  Before we got caught up and spent all our kip in one hit, we were saved by a mass power cut (gotta love Asia for this) and instead we dined by candlelight with the locals at a nearby food stall.  Of course, when the power was revived, we couldn't resist all the gorgeous things that we so desperately needed at the time so we shopped for a bit before the market packed away for another day.

Els and I managed to convince Helen that in fact she did not want to fly to Thailand as she had planned so she quickly changed her ticket to a later date.  We spent our second day in Luang Prabang awaiting the forthcoming festivities of the Lunar New Year and chilling in the cafes that dotted the street where the night market has assembled the previous eve.  It was there that, surprise surprise, who should we see but Roy!  He had travelled with two other guys, only one of which was memorable (Paddy the irish) and so the six of us settled for the afternoon.  Later we met for drinks and the group extended once more adding an American and a Japanese to a clan. 

So the eight of us set off the next day to visit the local waterfalls which besides being incredibly beautiful, there's not actually much to tell.  Whilst swimming, the heavens opened and we ended up so wet we couldn't feel the rain any longer.  On this note, we headed back to town and found no respite since the new year festivities were slowly approaching and the locals were already throwing water on any passer-by (it's a cleansing process before the new year begins). Let's just say we couldn't get any wetter...

After dinner that evening Els and Helen hit the night market whilst i visited the local carnival with Roy and Paddy.  We took an earliesh night to prepare for the chaos ahead...

Armed with super-soakers, Els, Helen and I (already drenched by this point) sought out the hub of all the excitement where the locals had called Beer O'Clock way too early and the music was pumping through the streets.  The waterfights were insane, particularly if you were dry since then you became a prime target.  People of all ages were dousing each other and anyone in sight with buckets of ice-filled water and white powder just to add to the mess.  Realising that perhaps 'if you can't beat them, join them' we teamed up with the locals and used their resources to fight the passing westerners on our quest for survival.  When the boys finally arrived, we headed down to the river only to uncover absolute carnage.  Not a sober person in sight and not only water being sprayed but paint and grease alike.  We bravely strolled through the gauntlet of people, feeling like ghostbusters with our water guns readily armed for danger.  By the time we reached the other end we were a complete multicoloured mess. 

Hours of the same passed, the fun accelerating by the minute until eventually Els and I returned to our guesthouse for a much-needed shower.  But oh dear, the family that ran our guesthouse insisted that we join them in their celebrations; literally physically sitting us down, force-feeding us Lao-Lao Whisky & Honey and showering with yet more water.  Now suitably pissed, we made our escape before it all began again the following day...

Our last day was spent milling around the day market and finally saying our goodbyes  - definitely to Roy as he was flying home so no chance of a rendez-vous now.  We left the Land of Fun, suitably drenched when we arrived at the airport, and back to Bangkok we flew...