So Vientiene was a nice place. I spent most of Sunday looking around the Wats and the grand (and some not so grand) monuments scattered around on the city on my trusty chinese made (probably 50 years ago) bike – brakes faulty, seats falling off, handbars loose! Somehow made it a few km along the Mekong river off the main road and chatted to a few people who always want to talk about Football! Then had a herbal sauna in a building by a Wat. Very hot and relaxing and the subsequent massage killed. Not only pulling fingers and toes out of joint but also my neck and back…

Monday got early bus upto Vang Vieng – a bit of a backpackers hangout on the Road upto Luang Prebang. A few pizza restaurants (good for the stomach and surprisingly good – it’s the French bread influences), the river and thats about it. Plus it’s very cheap. I paid $4USD for a room with 3 beds and en-suite. Met a couple of cool Scottish guys and had another pizza and my first Beer Lao. This beer is very nice – goes down well, comes it 660ml bottles, is 6% and 2-3 seems to go to my head very nicely!…

Hence I didn’t get up too early on Tuesday but when I did surface and the monsoon rains disappaited I decided to do some “tubing” (toobing for the americans) – basically you sign a dodgy disclaimer, opt not to have a lifejacket, get taken up stream 4k in a tuk-tuk with a load of people, tubes on the roof and drift back to town. Very nice you say, the best bit are the entrepreneurial Laos who have set up Beer Lao stops, jumps and swings along the way. Makes a 2hr journey into a 4hour drunken escapade but very good fun. Infact it was breathtaking, drifting past these mountains in the sun with a beer in lap in a toob. Couldnt beat it. Again 3 Beer Laos and a host of bites wiped me out by 7pm!.

The next day I had to get up early for the bus to Luang Prabang; a bus journey not wholeheartedly recommended by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office……