Tubing in the Nam Son in Vang Vieng

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Alarm didn't wake me up again this morning but that might have had something to do with the terrible nights sleep I got. There was a big storm that kept me awake and scared me. The lightening was very bright and frequent, thunder was very loud and rain also heavy. It went on and on. Then I could not sleep because I was too hot, I put the air con on but woke up again to be freezing!

Today we went on an excursion. We stopped first at a water cave. Everyone on the trip went in a long line holding onto a rope that led into the cave while floating with our life jackets. Only 3 people in the group had torches. When it came to me going in I got my head through the tiny gap between the water and the rock face, carried on for about 5m further where the people in front of me had dissapeared! It was pitch black, things floating about in the water and some pretty big spiders on the rocks. I decided to head back, Dom followed!

Lunch was good; BBQ'ed kebabs and rice with bread. We walked back through the paddy fields to the elelphant cave, aptly named because a rock formation inside ressembled a small elephant. We did not spend long in the cave because our guide had told us to be careful of snakes hiding in the small cracks in the rocks. From here we jumped into the back of a truck and headed downstream slightly on a very bumpy journey. Here we 'tubed' down the river. We got in tractor tyre inner tubes and floated downstream. The river was fast from all the rainfall but we had 2 guides with us in kayaks who steered us in the right direction with their paddles if we headed off course. They were both very nice, speaking good english and happy to chat about themselves and their lives in Laos. Along the river were bars who would throw out a line and drag you in if you wanted to stop there. Several had zip wiress and swings out into the river. Dom used both (zip wire twice). The river was very hot and so it was a fun way to make the heat bearable.

When we got back to the room we found a new room-mate, a lizard who had snuck his way under the door! Dom attempted to remove it by poking it with a stick but it jumped and glided from one side of the room to other, hiding behing the wardrobe where it remained for a few days!

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Comments

[Stephen]

Nice to see you are still having a good time
Shame on you for not going through, although it must have been pretty scary! Sounds like the trip down the river was fun: I think I would enjoy doing that. Keep the diary going: its nice to hear from you and know what you are doing. Mum and Dad

[Dom Rach]

Photos
We have finally uploaded some photos although not many because all of the computers we have come accross are so slow! So enjoy the few that we put up and look forward to more when we get back! xx