21st June - Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng

When we had been looking at buses from Louang Prabang, we noticed that they did something called a VIP bus for a few extra dollars. At a distance I'd commented that the picture of it looked like an ARRIVA bus and on closer inspection, it actually was. Not that ARRIVA are operating in Laos, they'd obviously just nicked the picture from the internet because it even said 'Southend-on-Sea' or something like that on the front. Anyway, it was still more expensive and so we didn't catch it but the picture had made me smile.

So, we took the non-VIP minibus to Vang Vieng and it was so cosy that we started making some of the friends that we were going to spend the next few days with. There was a younger English couple called Paul and Alex, and a Belgian guy called Yens - who we got to know a little better during an impromptu stop when we stood outside the bus waiting for a road to be rebuilt and retarmaced along the route.

We ended up in the same hotel as Yens and went together to explore the town a little bit more. Despite being famous for being a party town where drunken tourists can tube down the river, Vang Vieng is actually in a very attractive area, surrounded by cloudy karsts and stunning scenery and so we didn't need to walk far out of the main area to appreciate the beauty of it.

After some food and a few beers we decided to take a closer look at the clubs across on the little island. We were the first people there so we sat in hammocks with our promotional 'buckets' and watched the drunken tourists start to arrive. It still wasn't particularly busy but once the fires were lit and a few people were dancing, it started to feel more like we were expecting.

Not that this was particularly fun for Matt, who headed off to bed while I got more into the spirit of it all. A few hours later, after a particularly memorable few minutes of dancing to Madonna in the pouring rain, surrounded by blue sparkly lights and fires, Jens and I grabbed some food and headed back to the hotel - where I went to bed clutching a sandwich for Matt. He must have been tired though because I couldn't rouse him - so I picked out all the best bits and went to bed.