Vang Vieng!! Now we are talking..!!

Ok Vientiane wasn't great but Vang Vieng has been really cool and Laos is now up there with amazing places to visit!

Our little bungalow is lovely here, overlooking the river! We have stayed an extra night than expected and had  lots of fun.

Theres more backpackers here which is pretty refreshing after Vientiane and the laos people speak more english! wooo!! the town is pretty small but really cool...the night times seem fairly quiet but we found Gary's Irish bar where everyone goes! Met some nice people on our first night - Andy, Tom, Will and James from Oz, Nicola from Ireland and Jonas and Albin from Sweden.  We had a few games of pool, a fair few drinks and shots and headed to a jungle party they had going on for Black moon.  We got there and it was very...intimate! Not exactly koh phangan style..probably about 70 people dancing round a few camp fires..but we had fun :)

We were meant to get up and go tubing with a few of our mates the next day but after being given too many shots my hangover was far too bad to get up early!! So we had a slow start to the day then decided to get bicycles out! I made Amy walk a bit further to find a pink bike but only found one with a pink basket which had to do-lol! We set off on a little adventure around the town but got lost, then after cycling for 3 or 4km on bumpy, stony roads we found out we were only halfway to the blue lagoon!! we decided it was far too much hard work to carry on another 4km so made a detour to through the fields and headed for the Tiger Caves.  A little laos kid decided to guide us up the steep mountain and into the caves with our little head torches on.  It was pretty cool but the kid kept going further and further into them, and the gaps were getting smaller and smaller so after a while we headed back and dreaded the long journey home again!

We again got quite lost through the fields and woods and come across a herd of cows and a bull with them who didnt seem too happy! we crept past and luckily didnt get chased!!and finally made our way back.

Was quite a nice day and good for the leg muscles! we had such a strenuous day that we HAD to end it with a half hour leg and arm massage :) how nice.

We went out again last night and met up with our mates, few more drinks and ended up in the only club here which was pretty random..a bit like being in a school disco where they end the night with a few slow tunes! a few of us stayed out and chilled on the bridge listening to music and teaching each other our languages. Yogierta Jess (my name is jess in sweden-just not spelt like that!)

Today we went tubing!! its not like it used to be as too many travellers died and they had to shut all the bars along the river.  We took our own beer and had a very nice and relaxing drift down the river on our rubber rings! It took about 3 hours to get down which was a bit too long to be honest as the sun had gone in by the end.  Today was actually the first day we had some sun since we've been in Laos which was very nice.

We spent the afternoon relaxing by our bungalows and having a chilled night in and sorting out our next stop which will be 4000 islands!

our bungalow in vang vieng

yummy food!!

the view from our room

amy and andy in the irish bar

a night out in vang vieng

nicola (ireland)and tom (oz)

at the jungle party

me and tom! 

view at breakfast overlooking the Nam Song River

setting off on our bike ride

riding our bikes we come across these cows...errrm...

we now detoured into the fields, so much easier :)

on our way up to Tiger Caves - geeks!

amy the mole

in the caves with our little laos tour guide

nicest food at our resort - pork spring rolls all the way!

me and aims

 in Moon Club with Jonas and Albin - the swedes

 haha rude girls!

 vang vieng tubing!! yayy!!

 chilling down the river :)

 wicked little trip down the river

aims tubing!

Vientiane

Ok another update..

we arrived in Vientiane in the evening and after setting our bags down in our very nice hotel (posh backpackers :)) we headed out for a bite to eat and a beer! We had a look round the night market and after a few wrong turns made our way back home.
After a bit of a lie in after all the travelling from the day before we got up and decided to go look at the temples and monuments they have everywhere here. We paid our tuk tuk driver £7 each to take us 45mins away to 'Buddha Park', wait for us for an hour and take us back :) cheap cheap!! 
Buddha Park was actually pretty cool as far as statues go!! about a hundred of these statues all shapes and sizes in a small park and one HUGE one in the middle! (u will see what i mean by the pics) we then stopped at another couple of temples (Golden Temple, and a few others) and see the monks and stuff but by the end of the day we were well and truely templed out! dont get me wrong they are pretty amazing but once you've seen one or two they are all much of a muchness!
Anyway our second and last night here we googled a nice place to go and eat some local food so set off for 'Full Moon Cafe'. A tuk tuk driver picked us up when we were already half way there and literally had to drive 2 mins around the corner but he obviosuly didnt know where he was going, kept stopping at the wrong place and an hour later we were in the middle of nowhere at the wrong restaurant! we were so hungry (and cold) by now that we got out and gave him the money we had agreed on (10,000 kip(£1) but he went mad and asked for more!! I gave him another 10,000 kip but he still wasnt happy and made a big scene in the restaurant! It turns out people here in Vientiane dont speak hardly any english which makes it VERY hard to communicate and after a battle we paid him some money and he left! But now we had both tables next to us starring at us and realised we had walked into a restaurant where we were the only 'foreigners'.  The menu was only written in Laos and the men were creeps!haha. We managed to order some food and then asked where we grabbed a taxi from...we got laughed at "no taxi round here now". Great!! so off we set on a 2km walk into the weird and wonderful world of laos! Anyway after that nightmare night we got home safely and were looking forward to moving on from this place.
One thing I loved about Vientiane was the chocolate croissants in the Scandinavian Bakery!wow!!! and the bread here tastes normal and not like cake :) ...I think I might end up putting on a few pounds here.
The next day we set off on a 3 hour minibus trip to Vang Vieng where they do the tubing! Lets hope this place is better than the last..!!

 first beer in laos! cheers!

 night market in Vientiane

 outside our posh hotel :) (for £12each a night!)

 first tuk tuk ride!

 one of the many temples

aims decided to become a monk ;)

 ahhhh!!

 Buddha Park (lots of statues!!)

 the big one! (im there somewhere)

 me and aims at buddha park

 from the top of the pumpkin! oh look more statues behind us :)

 tuk tuk

 the golden temple - this was actually beautiful!

not happy bunnies after our night of getting lost and being cold in Laos!

Bye Bye Thailand, Hello Laos!

Feel like so much has happened already since my last update!!

We went to Mae Haad beach, north of Phangan for the afternoon on our last day which was very pretty.  What a roasting hot day it was aswell!! phew!!nicest day in Phangan since we got here I think..and now we're leaving! Grrr!!

In the evening we decided to call our mates from Essex and finally meet up with them before we were going seperate ways.  So took a taxi down to Baan Tai (again..we should have stayed on this part of the island in the first place) and met Paul, Ashleigh, Fang, Mark and Siobhan at there Hansa Resort which was lovely.  Really good to see them all and catch up on stories of what we have all been up to..seems they have fallen in love with Thailand too! you cant not! Spent the night having a few drinks, listening to Paul have a little mix, played some pool and chilled on the comfy sofas on the beach.


Next day we were up early(ish) to catch our boat and set off on our 27hour journey to Laos!! So this is how the trip went - taxi to pier, 3 hour boat to Surat Thani, 1 hour coach to train station, sat on train for hour and a half before it actually left, on train for 13 hours, arrived in Bangkok. Got 1 hour flight to Uran Thani, got couple more buses, crossed the Laos border and got a taxi to our hotel!! phew!! we are now here safe and sound and ready to snooze before heading out this evening to take a mosy around.  Doesn't seem like theres an actualy centre here, looks pretty spread out! The driving is very interesting out here, not particularly fast but they over take on the other side of the road so u have a car coming head on towards u before they move bk into the right lane again! lol.

We will probably go on a day tour or something tomorrow, see what we can while we are here in Vientiane for 2 nights.

 Our first longtail boat round to the beach

 This is our taxi round the island

 Mae Haad beach - north Phangan

 Beautiful little cove

 Fang and Ashleigh chilling at their resort

Aim on the beach 

Mark chilling on the beach

 Paul having a little mix

 Martyn, Ash and Aim - comfy sofa on the beach

 The 13 hour train journey

 Taxi to port in Phangan - nice hair!lol

 cosy little beds on the train

After our 27hour journey we arrive in Laos! :)