And then it all came to a crashing halt

---

Vang Vieng is known for being a major tourist/party town in Laos, and it is. There's a "lazy" river tubing that you can do, it just isn't very lazy. The current rips and along the river are all these bars that offer free shots when you get in. The only trick is to get to them. They throw you life rings and pull you against the current, which in most cases you just feel like your going to flip over and keep going down the river. I had no such problems, luckily. So you get to the bars and each one has some attraction. It may be a 20-40 foot slide that launches you into the river or a 50 foot rope swing that inevitably some clown tries to do a backflip. Some actually succeed...most fail. It's the entertainment for everyone at the bar aside from the blaring music. I didn't try anything too crazy but the rope swings and slides are a definite must.
The four of us became quick regulars at a bar called JaaDee's. JD was/is the man. Most nights we'd spend there i'd eventually end up behind the bar 'helping' out. Which JD was all about. Especially since I didn't know the prices of things so made them up. Usually I was grossly wrong in JD's favor but there were no complaints from the patrons so it was win/win.
We took a day and rented motorbikes to visit caves. The side roads were muddy and slippery. It was pretty common to have the bikes slide out but that was never a major issue. After the first cave, Sarah and I decided to head north and check out the area. We were traveling along what I assume was their highway, it's one way in each direction and there are no rules. You can pass others whenever you'd like and the road had more potholes than solid pavement. Anyways, I went through one of those potholes and it ended up being fairly deep and it sent me and the bike flying. The injuries weren't too bad but I knew they were bad enough that I had to fly home. So here I am, back in Cohasset updating this site from my bed now. Everything is healing well now and getting around isn't too difficult. My only major problem still is a broken collarbone, but that'll heal with time. The trip's over until Ali's wedding and after a week in Italy I'll probably fly back home again to the US.

---