Tubing in Laos

So as you know, I am in Loas. The last time I blogged I talked about the slow boat etc to Luangprabeng.

We headed to Vang vieng which is where the tubing is...and not a lot else. Checked into a little guesthouse that cost a ridiculous 3 pounds per night, might as well put a mask on and robbed us.

Vand Vieng is the best place in the world if you happen to love tubing, drinking, friends and family guy...every cafe/guesthouse has several screens with either friends or family guy on all day every day. We had planned to do the tubing on the second day but Craig was violently sick all night so couldnt do it - he spent most of the day in bed so I went and watched a couple of seasons of Friends and a season of family guy. Watched some football in the evening then hit the hay, hoping Craig would keep his intestines in the right place for a night...he did...so the next day we got our tubing vests on, packed our little waterproof tubing bags with camera and money, headed to the tubes and got a tuk-tuk to the river. You have to return the tubes by 6pm so we started at 12...I was the 7th person of the day to get a tube, and Craig the 8th...when we got to the river is was dead, couldnt believe it. Decided to just sit and have a beer to wait and see if it filled up a bit - another guy was doing the same, Tom from Aus, who happens to be one of the few Aussies who arent dickheads! (going on what we've experienced on this trip that is) Gradually we walked up to the first bar which had a few people in, including 3 mancs that we met on the slow boat. Eventually the place filled up and before you knew it, everyone was jumping in the river from the massive rope swing and the drinks started flowing...heavily. Every bar gives you unlimited free shots of local whiskey...its no Glenmorangie, but its not the worst. After a while at that bar, we got on our tubes and splashed our way down to the next one, that happens to have an even bigger rope swing, this was awesome, except we both touched the floor when we landed in the water - didnt hurt though...cos we're hard init - lost my vest in this bar also. Had a few more drinks there then went on down to the next place to play beer pong (I won)...Time was going against us at this point so we rushed down to the next place for a quick beer and some ping-pong, needless to say we were both terrible and managed to lose 2 ping-pong balls in the river (was hardly the same quality as the ping pong show we saw in bangkok) It was at this bar that i realised that my "waterproof bag" had leaked and my camera was soaked, brilliant. A quick look at the watch told us that we had ro run accross the bridge and get back to a Tuk-Tuk ASAP before we lost our deposits and got in trouble with the locals.

Made it back just in time and headed to a family guy bar for some food....we ordered...i looked at the screen and the whole place was spinning violently. I then went to the toilet and was sick. I came back...still spinning...went toilet...was sick...came back....spinning....went toilet...was sick. Half hour later decided to go back to the hotel...where i was sick, several times.

So, to sumarise: I lost my vest, broke my camera, was violently sick many times and was in bed by 7.30pm. Still though, between 12 and 6 is was absolutely ledge.

Spent the next day, as you would imagine, feeling somewhat rough...was cheered up by, believe it or not, Friends and family guy.

The following day, we headed down to the capital, Vientiane...which is where we are right now. Its pretty much France abroad, as they protected the city or something at some point...I realise that wasnt the most informative sentence in the world but its all I know about it! Its OK here but pretty boring, some nice places to eat and drink but in general its more of a big capital city than a tourist trap. Due to boredom, we decided to rent some mopeds for a day. The place we rented them from gave us a special price...it was the least he could do seeing as their insurance had expired, and both the mopeds had no tax. We got helmets though, so...every cloud. Had a really fun day on the mopeds, mine was awful and slower than Craigs which was annoying, neither ped had a working speedo, nor did the mileage counter count miles. But they moved. We headed out in prety much random directions to see what we could see, ended up at the national football stadium. The road was blocked off, but we managed to squeeze our peds through the gap and drive on up to the stadium. There wasnt anyone about (apart from a couple blokes who looked like they really wouldnt care if we decided to take a ball on the pitch and have a kick about) We didnt do that, but we went inside and had a mooch around...not bad...no wembley though.

Left the stadium and followed signs to the friendship bridge (oooooh friends) ... Went on for quite a while until we realised we were both verging on empty tanks...and with no gas station in sight we decided to take a turn off the main road. Which led us to a dirt track. We didnt have much choice but to carry on bumping down this road, luckily it led to a little village where a local sold whiskey bottles filled with gasoline for a quid a pop. We filled up there and headed back to the city centre, it took an hour - and several inquiries as to where the hell we were...the locals didnt like us, one even just said "no" and got back to her chores...soz.

Anyway made it back and had a couple beers at a nice little place by the river where we met some cool french people the night before...played a couple games of shithead and a couple of english girls joined us for a few games.

Today we took the peds back to the shop and headed to a swimming pool...its absolutely roasting here and theres no beach...it turned out it was a massive gym with spa and all the works...the lady at the desk was lovely and gave us a day each for only 3 quid (was meant to be over a fiver) Had a little work out (was depressing to realise how weak I am after 6 months of no gym action) and hit the pool.

Now back by the river on the worst computer ever...remember those Acorn computers, with the black screen and green letters? yeh its a little bit better than that...but just a little.

Heading back to Sticky Fingers for some more games with the English girls, then the French are meeting us there and we might go onto a club with them as its a Friday night.

We attempted to get tickets on the sleeper bus to Hanoi, Vietnam, for tomorrow but they dont facny it this weekend...so with nothing to do...we are heading back to Vangvieng to do the tubing again...hopefully this time Ill have a more successful day!

So thats it, much love,

Jay