Vang Vieng

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We got to Vang Vieng and stayed at Pans Place near the bus station. This place is so much fun. Lots of restaurants, bars and the famous tubing with big swings and plenty beer laos.

first night we went to smile bar, which is the main place every body heads for after the restaurants and bars close, its across the dodgy bamboo bridge and on the river side, with star attractions like DJ Martin from ireland (arf), cheap buckets of liver pickling shite laos whiskey at a dollar a bottle! anyway, its a great little place, they get a fire going and play some good tunes which gets everyone dancing and having a good time - then it closes! midnight and the music stops and everyone heads up to spider bar for a more chilled time, again another fire and a bar but no music.

bumped into loads of people again that we saw from don det, vientiane etc. bumped into heath, we had first met on don det beach but not sure he remembers as he is always drunk! he's loads of fun anyway and we had a great night.

next day we spent in hammocks reading and relaxing, then out again for more of the same, met up with heath again and his mates penny and tim, and various others. also met up with jamie, shay and kelly which was a brucie bonus.

next day was my first day tubing! sheena didnt fancy it but i had an absolute blast. you get a big tube, like a massive inner tube tyre and you just float down the nang som river on the current. along the way are riverside bars with music and stuff, with swings that you swing out and jump into the water. they are great fun - very big and i didnt actually do one i have to admit. the river aint so deep at the moment and im a big coward too. we actually didnt get too far along the river, we dropped in for a beer laos at the first bar ('we' means me, heath, penny and tim) and then the next bar which has volley ball and plenty good music and dancing, kept us amused for a long time. we drank lots of beer and there were lots of people there we had been partying with from smile bar - including a long haired israeli guy who was hilarious, altho i cant remember his name. shameful i know. the four of us had a dance and a bloody good laugh and i have to say it was one of the best days of the trip so far. bloody brilliant. we then tubed to another bar for another beer or four and by then it was pretty late so we had to get a boat back. there was a shockingly drunk english girl in a pink bikini that did a wee in front of everybody and then fell over. penny and i tried to help her and got her up and tried to give her water and crisps but she was a rude little madam and didnt want any help. some other people promised they would get her back and we left her with them. we saw her later on and fair play that she was still going!!

so then we went for food and went out again for evening shenanigans. went back for sheena but she was tucked up fast asleep in bed so had a quick shower and left her to sleep. sometime after i left someone came into the room and stole her ipod while she was asleep. scary huh. lock your doors anyone who is sleeping alone please!

anyway, i crashed at heaths and then we went and rented a bungalow for a couple of nights next to jamie, shay and kelly. next day, me and heath hired a motorbike and went for a ride, we went to a cave and then to a lagoon, really lovely day. the bungalow was next to smile bar so no prizes for guessing where we went. tim went back to singapore where he is working, penny was pretty upset to see him go.

stayed the next night at pans place with heath, sheena had left to go north, vang vieng wasnt doing it for her so she set off to find somewhere more chilled. next day, heath left with penny for luang prabang and then my lovely aussie mate kate (who i hung around with on phangan for a spell) arrived around 4pm, i found her at 6pm as i had been watching friends in a bar for hours! look down on me if you will those of you who hate 'friends' bars, i dont care!

so brilliant to meet up with kate again, we went out and made some new friends that night! we went tubing the next day and had a brill time. we drank beers, danced and talked to some people - the usual.

next day we met a fantastic lady called Gemma, she is travelling on her own, from surrey (I think) and is brill fun. we had a great night out, smile bar of course, then after the guys at pans place have a private garage/small warehouse type building where they have after hours drinking, so we dragged some people from smile bar with us, a couple of american guys and various others, jamie of course, and went there til some ridiculous time in the morning. we had a great time there and had a drink and a few J's. we actually managed to get up and meet gemma for breakfast next morning and the 3 of us hired bicycles and cycled out to the lagoon which is beautiful, the water is an amazing shade of bluey green and you can see all the fishes and bottom of the water. its deep so i didnt mind playing on the swing there! there's a smaller swing which is about the right size for me so i played on that! there is also a cave there and we hired a guide and went into this cave for an hour or so. it was a bit of a climb up a very steep rock face but i enjoy that sort of thing anyway, then the cave was just beautiful. i was gobsmacked, it was fantastic and i didnt want to come out! i would really recommend that anyone visiting go in there with a guide, its amazing and really beautiful.

we were then so intrepid that we cycled back to town, and went TUBING!!! it was late in the afternoon but we went and had a fab time on the tubes. we did a bit of beer and bars and got a boat back, i have actually got tube chafe on my arms and legs!!! really sore red patches from paddling!

of course, we went out and had another great night out, what can i say! we danced with jame and shay at smile bar and the other usual suspects that are there.

so next day, we had decided we were going on up to Luang Prabang, also with jamie and shay so we said we'd meet on the 10am bus, unfortunately - we missed it! we met gemma for breakie and said bye bye (Gemma - you SO have to meet up with us again and come to barcelona - we love ya!!!) and then we missed the bus. not to worry tho as the bus station staff got us on another one at 11am, they got the vientiane bus to stop off and pick us up so we made it after all. we sat on the back seat and the air con leaked all over kate which was amusing as she was convinced she was gonna get legionnaires disease from it! we met a guy called max from canada too on the bus who we later found in a bar and he joined us all for bowling.

so we managed to catch up with heath at merry guesthouse, and that was lovely. we went out with jamie and shay and met up with laura too and her boyfriend, they are friends we made at spider bar in vang vieng. me and heath ended up at the bowling alley where everyone goes after the bars close. not too sure how we got there actually or where everyone else was at the time! its open all night basically and is about a quid a game for proper 10 pin bowling!!! imagine that! so expensive in engerland. it was really busy and we didnt actually play a game but we were both pretty smashed so its just as well.

next day we mooched about luang prabang with heath, its such a beautiful town, much nicer in my opinion than vientiane and there is so much shopping! great shops and the best market ive ever seen (apart from marrakesh). its just ridiculous how many gorgeous things are here. we ate at the night market and shopped and then went out and met up with everyone in the lao lao bar, played pool and then went bowling. The bowling was just hilarious, we had a big group in 2 lanes, and played some stunning bowling! actually, i was personally crap with a score of 11. hmmmm.

next day, heath left for the north, i will see him again in a couple of weeks in bangkok, he's gonna come to kho phangan with me for a bit unless plans change. so kate and i went with jamie and shay and a few others to the waterfall. it was a really lovely day and we had a top time. really stunning scenery and there is a black bear rescue park there. we bought t shirts and chatted to the guy there, i'm really interested in helping out at some point, they have a really big bear rescue park in cambodia apparently. he told us a bit about the bears and they were beautiful. there is also a tiger there in another enclosure, this is a rescued tiger as well.

i have to say, laos and this part of the trip has really taken me aback, there is just no way that it could have been better and im having the best time ever!

after the waterfall, we came back and had a look round the market, ate from the night market and then went to lao lao bar again to meet up with people, after we went bowling again. we had a couple of dutch guys join us and they were really good guys. they bowled with us and kate and i managed to polish off a whole bottle of vodka! we had soooooo much fun, jamie and shay were hilarious - i am so glad we met these two, im adopting jamie to be my 6th brother, he kipped in with me and kate last night and we spliffed ourselves silly! it was so funny and then we woke up at midday - me and kate are supposed to be moving out and into jamies and shays guesthouse to share their room! we eventually managed to get there but they wouldnt let the four of us stay in the same room which was annoying so we have a twin room across the way from them instead. jamie was actually meant to catch a boat that he had booked yesterday but we convinced him while bowling last night that he should stay with us so he missed his boat! he stayed with us another night and we all did the usual, went to lao lao bar, played pool with some locals and each other and met up with laura and alex too, a great welsh couple we made friends with. Went bowling again! we usually got back around 3 or 4am from bowling, so that was fun sneaking back into the guest house as there is a curfew at midnight!

anyway, its all a bit of a blur now, but heath turned up again as he had run out of money and had to come back down to luang prabang, he couldnt get any money out of the ATM and he turned up and surprised us. he had met a german lady, Maretta on his trek, and we met with her too, she's lovely and she joined us for the evening, we had dinner and a few drinks and then had an early night at midnight! next morning, jamie left for kho lanta where his mate is getting married, shay left to catch her flight and heath left too, so we all said our goodbyes, sob sob. we've had so much fun with them it should be illegal (actually, it is most of the time). but we're meeting jamie and heath in bangers on 5th, and shay is coming to see me for full moon party, along with about a dozen others, im guessing maybe a quarter of them will actually turn up!

anyhoo - im now in bangkok! we kyaked back from vang vieng to vientiane, and met with some great people, there were 11 of us kyaking back. it was bloody ace, first time ive done it, when we got to our 'big' rapids i cacked it and was going to walk past it instead! but peer pressure made me do it and i loved it! i managed to stay in one piece and now wanna do some more! it was a great day, there was some great lads, neil, john, josh, and a mad aussie couple that we partied with in vientienne. we got very drunk, aussie style, and i managed to lose half the contents of my bag (as usual), but next day - after i had called my bank, cancelled my cards and internet access, the laos lady from the pub came cycling up and told us she had found my stuff and had it safe at the pub! what more can you say about laos people - they are just lovely. very honest and helpful, we went back to the pub that night and recovered my belongings! my purse, cards, diary with all banking info, they could have gone to town but gave it back to me and wouldnt take anything from me as thanks! i love laos and laos people - they are the best.

so after a couple of mad days and nights in vientiane, kate has stayed with them for a few days longer and i had to depart on the overnight bus for bangkok for my appointment at the spanish embassy. all went well and my papers are in the post - at long last! yeeeehar.

ive been back to my fave hairdresser in bangers to get my locks shorn again - loving it. she is fab!

well, now im gonna try and get a bus tomorrow to chiang mai to see my bro, trains are all booked but i have to go to bus station myself so that will be an arse carrying my massive pack, but hey ho. will give it a go!

photos to be uploaded another time, as kate has all the good ones!!!!

this might be badly written as ive done it in about 6 goes! so apols for repeating stuff or being out of sync!!

lots a love from smelly x

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Photos

kate in a state
the night 3 of us crashed on my bed in a stupor!!