Laos - Vientiane & Vang Vieng

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So we are back in Laos and I can't believe Vientaine is the capital. It is so small and chilled out, a complete constrast to the hussle and bussle of Vietnam but I like it.

We met a nice British couple (Jim and Kate) on the flight over so we all shared a taxi into town in search of a guesthouse. We ended up in a $3 USD a night place, I am even impressing myself with my economising now adays. We all went for lunch and it turns out that Jim and Kate are also from Clapham - it really is a small world. We all spent the afternoon exploring Vientiane.

That evening we went out for beers with Jim (Kate was really knackered so she stayed in). The best thing about being back in Laos is Beerlao - probably the nicest beer in the world and Lao-lao the rice whiskey which is probably the most lethal drink in the world.

We were getting well stuck into the pitchers of Beerlao when a group of Chinese people on the next table asked us to jion them. There was one guy who spoke really good English and the others spoke limited English but they were keen to learn. They were a lively bunch and in Laos for a fortnights holiday so it wasn't long before the Lao-lao made an appearence. Then the camera came out and they all took photo's of us - it was abit nice but abit wierd. As we were all chatting it was apparent that there was one guy who seemed to be the ringleader of thier group, he was a really nice guy and when our bill came he insisted on paying for all our drinks. He then insisted on us going onto a club with them, paying for our entrance fee and even more drinks. We were all convinced he was some sort of chinese mafia boss - there was no way he would let you pay for anything all night.

The club was full of young Laos people so we had a great night dancing with them all. They have these funny dances they do so I picked up a few new moves, I can't wait to hit Inferno's with them when I get back. When the Chinese people left he was really thankful for us hanging out with them. We were just all relieved to wake up the following morning minus horses heads in our beds!

We left the club at 4am and were really hungry so we stopped off at a food stall on our way back home. We sat with more locals and ordered some sticky rice and what I thought were chicken schewers. The food was going down pretty well but the chicken was pretty chewing and it didn't really taste like chicken. I asked one of locals we were sat with and to my horror was told we were infact feasting on chicken hearts - nice! You need to be careful in Laos as apprently they eat anything that they believe has nutritional benefit.

Two days was long enough for Vientiane so we got a bus up to Vang Vieng. It's a tiny place and so laid back its unbelievable. There is only really one main road where all the restaurants and bars are but whats really wierd is that they all show Friends and Simpsons episodes all day long. However, now I'm sports expert we opted for the men's Wimbledon final and the World Cup final - I didn't get bored once!

The following day we went for a traditional Lao massage, I was pretty exhausted after watching all that sport to be honest. I swear to God I have never been in so much pain in my life. I mean massages are meant to be relaxing right? But I would never of thought such a tiny Lao person could inflict so much pain! I felt pretty beaten up by the end after having had my entire body pumelled, pulled, stretched, twisted and cracked. He even cracked my earlobes for god sake! He was laughing at me so much because I spent the entire hour wincing in pain.

Our last day in Vang Vieng was pretty active. We hired Mountain Bikes in the morning and set off to find these wicked caves. It was pretty short-lived, Mark lost the map after 5 minutes on the road so we just kind of cruised round decided to go Tubing instead.

Tubing is like Vang Viengs national sport. The concept is very simple, you are issued with an inflated tractor inner tube, dropped off a few km's up the road and you float back down the Nam Xong river to the tubing place.

It all started off well, we met another British guy at the start so we all floated merrily down the river chatting away. They have bars every 30 or so mins where a guy will pull you in and you can stop for a cold beer and jump off a massive rope swing into the river so we did that a few times. We were told at our last beer stop we only had 10 mins till the end of the route. Now my tube has been abit slow which had been an ongoing joke with Mark and Eric so I noticed the middle of the river had developed quite an impressive current so I decide to get myself in the middle of that.

The next minute I'm flying down the river past the others and as we turn the corner its the end of the route. Mark and Eric get pulled in by the guys no problem but I'm too far out still picking up speed. It's when I turn the next corner that I begin to panic. There is no-one else in the river as far as I can see. I decide the best thing to do is abort my tube and swim to the side. I fling myself into the river, prompted loose both my flip-flops (which I really liked) and frantically swim to the side dragging the bloody tube with me. I manage to get myself onto the bank feeling pretty relieved. There is however a big barbed wire fence running down the bank of the river. I have no option but to scale the barbed wire fence with my bare feet being very careful not to puncture my tube. I then limp shamefully and abit shaken back to the tubing place to meet the guys.

Tubing in Vang Vieng - good fun but its not a race!

Our next stop - Luang Prabang