Vientiane and the tubing madness in Vang Vieng

Hello there. So since the last blog we got the sleeper train to the Laos border from Bangkok. It was pretty good for a sleeper train. As I've said loads before after India all the sleeper trains are great, we even got a matress, pillow, cover and even a curtain for privacy, awesome! The train staff kept telling us to NEVER let go of our valuables as there were alot of thefts so I slept with my small bag in my arms and Jay and I padlocked our bags up together, so no problem there. The train also had guys going up and down selling beer, funny stuff. So anyway when we got there we got a tuk tuk to the border and just hoped that this border crossing wasn't as bad as the last time! We were told that the Laos visa was $30 and you got 15 day. We ended up paying $36 but they gave us 30 days, so not so bad really. After going through loads of other checks where they ask for money here and there, we got some people together and shared a truck/tuk tuk thing into Vientiane, the capitol of Laos.

Vientiane was quite a nice relief as even though it was a capitol, it was like no capitol city I've ever been to, it was like a quite little town, which like I say was nice after Pattaya and Bangkok. We stayed in Vientiane for 3 nights, we didn't do a hell of alot but it was good to chill for a bit. There were some really cool restaurants on the Mekong river which we went to most nights, they did some good authentic Laos and Thai food and was at nice setting aswell. Here aswell I had my first Beer Laos, had been waiting ages ha!

That first night we decided to have a few beers and checked out a few little bars. We found this really strange little place by the river, not far fromt those restaurants. It was this African bar with loads of black guys listening to hard hip hop, so we though we'de go there. It was just so weird because it was this nice serene little place with all this loud hard hip hop blazing out. But the guys there were really cool and it was a good time. Later we went to this live music bar...we didn't didn't know any of the words but it was ok ha.

The next day we got a bus to a place called Buddha park. We did want to take a tuk tuk but the guys were annoying us with their crazy prices so we kept it real and trekked to the bus station and got on this battered bus with holes that seemingly looked like bullet holes...but the important thing was that is was dirt cheap! Anyway, Buddha park was really amazing, it had all these statues and carvings of Hindu and Buddhist dieties including this one massive reclining Buddha. I've got some good pics there so hopefully they'll get on here. There we met these girls, one from Russia and one from Swizerland and a lad from England. They were cool and were going to Vang Vieng aswell in a couple days to we decided to meet up with them to get the bus...plus the Swiss girl had the most lovely accent!

The last day we were there we had quite an active day. The guest house we were staying at was right next to Laos' national stadium so we went and had a look. We reckoned we could get in so went went back and got our football. We got on the pitch and played footy for a while until we got told to leave, we felt like that was a yellow card so we hid and then went back...but when the police came we decided that was the red card and we left. The police were laughing about it though. The stadium wasn't exactly Wembley as hopefully you can see from the pics but it was fun. Later we found some nice tennis courts to payed for some games there, was good to finally get active and have some good exercise for once. Later that day we went to a temple near by that was really nice too.

So the next day we got the bus to Vang Vieng, we were buzzing about getting there because it had the tubing we had been told so much about. In Vang Vieng we pretty much had a routine to our days. The first morning we woke up at 10am went tubing, went out that night. The next day we would chill out at bars showing Family guy all day or watch some movies at a bar while we rested for the next day of tubing and going out ha!

Tubing was absolutely amazing though. You would go to the tube shop and pay 115,000 kip, 60 kip of which you would get back if you brought the tube back before 6pm. Then you would get your dry bag where you put your valuables in, get your tube and get in the tuk tuk with a bunch of other people. You get to the river get in your tube and float down a bit till the first bar where a guy throws you something to pull you in. The 1st bar is literally wood and bamboo with things like a volleyball bit and this amazing swing into the river. We saw one girl have a really bad bail from there, face first! Next bar is similar but has a zipline instead of a swing, you hit the end and do some crazy flips! The 3rd bar has this crazy mud pit thats so damn dangerous, mud in my eye everytime and all these pot holes. Still brilliant fun though, gutted I didnt get any pics of it. The 4th bar had this crazy slide, zip line and a great fire pit for when the sun goes behind the limestone mountains. There's more bars but these are the only ones worth going to..something we didn't know the first time we went! We kept going after the 4th bar and it got really dark and cold...we were pretty much lost and didnt get our deposit back as it was really late ha! The next couple times we went tubing we crossed the bridge and got a tuk tuk back to get our deposit back which was very much better. All in all tubing is freakin' amazing and everyone should do it, best partying ever...ever!

So other than that in Vang Vieng we didn't do much else. On days after tubing we just strolled around town like zombies. But the great thing is that you can watch movies or friends or family guy whenever the hell you want so that was pretty sweet especially as thats been one thing we've been missing while we've been away, comedy, and family guy in the best! After all the crazy days of tubing and then going out that night, usually to 'Bucket bar' (which serves you these bucket drinks that are crazily full of whisky, coke and redbull like the tubing bars) we were looking forward to going to quiet Luang Prabang and chilling out, having a bit of a detox.

Yesterday we got the bus to Luang Prabang, it was incredibly uncomfortable and long but at the same time there were some amazing views along the way that even rivalled Nepal's views..maybe not quite but close anyway. And seeing some of the villages along the way was really cool too. So like I said we're in Luang Prabang now which is still in Laos chilling out deciding what to do next. I've got loads of pics and vids to put on so I'll try. Speak soon x

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