a tractor tyre Inner Tube

Moving on from Vientiane, we've arrived in backpacker paradise (or hell depending on which way you look at it - I'm with the latter) of Vang Vieng. (Via a 3 hour bus journey that set off 1 hour late and had to stop at one point to retrieve a wing mirror that decided to fall off the coach) It's a stunning location, a small town on the banks of the Nam Song river, surrounded by massive limestone karst mountains. It's definately overrun by kiddie backpackers, and the town is generally full of bars showin 24/7 Friends/Family Guy/Simpsons - BUT the tubing is worth it.

Tubing consists of sitting in the middle of a tractor tyre inner tube and floating down the Nam Song. Enterprising Lao have built all sorts of bars on the banks of the river and have a variety of measures to entice tubers, including death slides, death swings and a huge water slide. Some stretches of the river are like the Pirates of the Carribean, with people swinging through the air everywhere and huge wodden huts on the side of the river. I now understand why there are so many people on crutches. So we've spent a lazy 4 hours or so floating from bar to bar down the river, over rapids, dodging canoes and have lived to tell the tale - and want to do it again! But we're off to Luang Prahbang tomorrow; another 7 hour bus ride awaits (barring any breakdowns)

Some Stats

Distance floated - 4 km
Number of flip flops at start of trip - 2
Number of flip flops at end of trip - 1 (do'h)
Number of injuries - 0 (hurrah!)

Vientiane

I'm back! - for a limited period only (whilst we're in Laos).

Having missed out Laos the last time as we weren't quite sure we had the time to visit it, we've decided to make a specific trip out here. After a mammoth 14 hour overnight sleeper from Bangkok, which was more like 14 hours of slightly napping as a combination of the state of the track (rollercoaster-esque) and jet-lag prevented deep sleep, we're in Vientiane.

First impressions are 'is it really a capital city?' We had to dodge a cow in the middle of the road, it's that sort of place. It's about as busy as a small town in the UK - but alot hotter and full of Monks (I think I'm winning on the Monk spotting game that was invented the last time we were in SE Asia) .

A brief update - struggling to stay awake - but I'll be back soon.

Some Stats

Hours train was late - 2
Hours slept on train - 2 total
Cows dodged in Tuk Tuk - 1