And now for Laos

So after all the buses and trains we'd taken we were both kinda looking forward to the Flight from Hanoi to Vientiane, and after the 1 hour flight we arrive in Laos, by far the shortest trip we've taken yet. So after getting our Visa's sorted at the airport, we jumped in a taxi and went to our Guest House, and then set off to explore The Capital of Laos...

Our first impression of Laos is that it is Soo much more laid back and quiet then Vietnam, which we weren't complaining about. We spent the Morning and early Afternoon looking at the Wat's (Temples) once again we both got a bit Templed out, and we'd seen a sign taped to a Number of Power poles advertising Super 14 Rugby (Cane's vs Crusader's) at one of the Bar's, so we thought well, no better way to spend warm afternoon. When we got there though the Bar was full, there was a Book Group thingy going on inside, atleast we still got to have a couple beers and watch the second half. After the game we booked our bus tickets to Vang Vieng for the next day, killed a few hours then went had a Nice candle lit dinner by the river, Crickets aren't half bad to eat!!!

To Vang Vieang we go...

We get on the bus in the middle of town and off we go, to the bus station to pick up more people, then the bring on a couple Plastic chairs to put in the aisle for the people they'd over booked for (only 3) and away we go again. About 10 minutes into the trip they turn off the aircon, so everyone opens up the windows, 5 minutes from Vang Vieng they turn the Aircon on again, not that Alan would know he slept pretty much the whole way. So we get to Vang Vieng after a 4 hour bus ride, find a Guest House, and go get lunch then go wandering...
Not many people here at all, then between 4:30 and 6:30 the town just fills up from Nowhere. We'd booked a little Kayak/Cave/Tubing trip thingy for the next day.

So next day off we go for our little trip, after a little walk we get to a water cave and get handed a Tube and Headlamp the water was great and the cave looked cool so in we go with our guide. After a little way in we have to walk for abit, well Alan almost had to crawl, then back into the tube. After the tubing came lunch. After lunch we were off Kayaking, and all of a sudden we realised where everyone came from the night before, The River, Lots of people tubing don the river.
After about 30-40 minutes of kayaking we got out at one of the Bar's/river swings for a look and a swing.

And Yes Even Alan Did it, Grant was first though.

Alan the swinger

And Grant the swinger

After a short break there we were off again in our kayaks, the kayaking was over in another hour or so, ohh and it was a twin Kayak so both of us were in the same Kayak so obviously we got beached a coupe times, but there weren't really any decent Rapids to speak of the Kayaking got a little boring. We got back to town at about 2pm. We spent the next few hours sat in one of the TV bar there and watched 4 Movies one after the other with a few beers to wash them down.

So after watching everyone go down the river on tubes we decided it was out turn... So we had a day in the sun, doing a few swings and eventually meeting up with a few Poms, Canadians, and the obligatory Aussie who became our Vang Vieng friends. So we stopped at a fair few of the bars, and left the last one just a little too late and everyone got separated as it got dark. Grant being his incredibly smart self didn't have his jandals as Alan had the bag, cut his foot on a bamboo bridge and ran home to clean it out. Alan got back about 30 minutes later, Grant must be a better swimmer!

That night ending up being quite large, as our Vang Vieng friends enjoyed drinking... So we got home late after a very amusing night of laughing at the Poms as they were the drunkest!

So the next day we did it all over again, but this time we got out early so it wouldn't be dark and got a Tuktuk to town. Then we met up with our friends again, had a few beers, but Grant being a big girls blouse went to bed early. Alan kicked on until the early hours of the morning... Who knows what he got up to!!!!

We were up early to get the bus to Louang Prabang. We will update you all on this in our next post as this one is far too long already and these keyboards suck ass.

Ka kite
Grant & Alan