We welcomed in the new year with an 8 hour bus ride starting at 7.30am through windy mountains on unmaintained roads. Tell me you’re jealous, the fry up, clean up and sleep in at home just doesn’t compare right?

As we’d stuck to the no mix and drink sensibly rules we were all feeling pretty fresh first thing, but as soon as the hills hit the whole bus was feeling very shady and we all had our escape routes plotted to the window or bin. Even I did and I haven’t been car sick since I was a kid. My family think that I no longer got sick due to using up my carsickness quota before I was 10, I was that kid. We all had motion sickness pills and ventured on, no casualties. We made a pretty cute bunch:

Lunch stop was stunning with 270 degree views (90 was hindered by restaurant).

They even had a squat toilet with a view, no expense spared.

We arrived in Vang Vieng ‘the tubing place’ in the afternoon and went for a bike ride down jarring roads for some fresh air with a destination of the blue lagoon.
We all have very sore butts now, except Laura as she’s all used to race, used to triathlon, used to it. After 7km we made it and I could have edited this photo like all the ones you see on the internet but I don’t want you to get your hopes up, we were disappointed.

It was a manky grey/blue swimming hole (it was small), filled with Foreigners who couldn’t swim for the life of them, no wonder so many people die in this town, there’s horrible stats from tubing on the river and in this lagoon. So stupid, we saw at least 3 near misses. Thank goodness that we discovered the cave up the cliff face, it promised a great climb and then opened into a stunning cavernous space.

We didn’t last long up there as the sun was setting and we needed to head back, bumpy roads and bikes and darkness = bad idea. Our departure was also hastened by seeing this side profile face in the rocks which is only really clear in a photo and Taylor saw a ghost like figure on her screen earlier, spooky.

We lost all game and decided to chuck our bikes on the roof of a tuk tuk, (we’re athletes I swear) and this enabled us to see the sunset. Love how Laos has hills, except for the motion sickness, this was something Cambodia lacked.

We Korean BBQ’ed for dinner, Everyone should Korean BBQ sometime. This was awesome another awesome dinner and we even learnt how to poke a hole right through an egg.

The next morning rose to a hot air balloon outside our balcony and set off to go tubing through caves and kayak down the river.

This is the same river that people tube down, though all but 4 bars have been closed and the hoards of party goers you see on the internet aren’t there anymore. Sad how peoples stupidity ruins an otherwise fun activity and the economy of a town that doesn’t have a lot of other attractions to offer, this place will probably be rather dead in a few years… Well, unless they rename the blue lagoon and push the caves and kayaking because that was fun!
No cave photos sorry, taking my phone out in water is silly so you’ll have to wait for us to publish Laura’s waterproof camera photos. The tubing consisted of sitting in a tube and pulling yourself through the caves, it was cool (pun pun pun) though freezing but watching the tourists of Asian descent hop in the tubes (after a demo on how to, isn’t it self explanatory?) fully clothed, jeans and all and coming back soaking was pretty hilarious. Then watching them manage to slip through their tubes while their friends scrambled to grab them just iced the hilarity cake. How? How can people not sit in tubes? I didn’t even get my bikini top wet!

We stopped at elephant cave on the way, expected yesterdays proportions, got this:

The caves namesake elephant and other creatures:

The cave entrance is the black area, it’s about half a meter off the water surface:

New year, new fact: chickens can climb up and down ladders.

Lunch was provided, best mango ever, kebabs and fried rice, all the energy one needs for an 8k kayak!
We bobbed down some rapids, there were about 2 goodies that were real deal water-splashing-could-tip maybe rapids and the rest of the river was smooth. We’ve decided we need to go white water rafting when we return to NZ to get our adrenaline rush. So relaxing and an absolutely stunning day for it!

We stopped at one of the bars for a rest and to watch the odd tuber go past or be pulled in my rope to our resting spot. After getting sun kissed (Laura’s shins are a stunning tomato today) we continued on our way, arriving by kayak outside our hotel at 2.30 for our 3.30 departure to Vientiane. The last stop off the tour before an overnight bus (eugh) to Bangkok.

Vientiane is the capital of Laos, no real activities jumped out at us and we were on a budget of spend all our kips (Laos dollars) but still eat two good meals and save 10000 for the border before our departure at 7pm.
We decided more Wats were out of the equation, still Wat’ted out from Bangkok and Siem Reap!
But here’s our cultural stumbles anyway, the Cultural Hall and That Dam (cool name), respectively.

We then found the best place ever for lunch, Viengsavanh Nem Nueng, a mouthful of a name for a place that provides delicious mouthfuls of food! It was also $2.40 NZD, we’re going back for dinner and spending up large, we’ve got 40000 kip to blow each! That’s $6nzd, holy moly- future food coma!

We were very impressed with Laos, it’s a country I’d return to in a heartbeat. Everyone before this trip had told us how underdeveloped Cambodia was and that Laos was even more so… But other than the roads and power lines Laos is incredibly westernised. Even though the French once reigned over both Cambodia and Laos their influence in Laos still remains very strong, hence the French vibes of mon préféré place Luang Prabang and the endless Parisian cafes, macaroon shops and street names of Vientiane.

Also, considering their supposed financial state (I haven’t actually researched this I’m just taking it at face value and I know families out of the city are not very well off) the Lao people drive the fanciest cars, much nicer than NZ. From vintage Mercedes and jags to Range Rovers and even Suzuki swift sports. No one drives Toyota starlets or Mazda familias here.
Some poser even got his Porsche in gold, vom.

Just in case you thought we were kidding here’s our dinner feast! Missing two bowls of vermicelli noodles. We then bought 2L of water and delicious fruit shakes from ‘fruit heaven’. If I return here I am going to repeat this meal all over again! Taylor (Australian one) wanted to blow all her kips so tipped the juice place 40000, then forgot to save her 10000 for the border, muppet. Good thing her tour buddies are so nice.

We then bought 2L of water and amazing fruit sh

Vientiane gave me my fist bout of travel ills, I got hayfever, nothing serious, dehydrating or gross, just your run of the mill sinus stuffing hayf. Whoopee.
Sleeping pill on the bus will be necessary to get through this one I fear.
That fear was made the greater when not even a sleeping pill could save us from our drivers erratic manoeuvring and acceleration. He was also just a bit if a jerk. Pulled Laura’s bag of her and she was like ‘wait! I need something’, demanded we toilet, coffee or walk around, we already had we’re adults and were just chilling. Then grunted and wouldn’t even look at our hand movements or try to understand ‘wait missing passenger!’, he also had a phlem issue. But his van had comfy seats as despite the heavy traffic he pulled a u-turn and took a short cut dodging a massive traffic jam meaning we got in 3 hours before the other group, so that’s ok. It’s like the gods were letting us JJ markets again!
Laura’s sleeping posey behind the reclined chairs.

We welcomed in the new year with an 8 hour bus ride starting at 7.30am through windy mountains on unmaintained roads. Tell me you’re jealous, the fry up, clean up and sleep in at home just doesn’t compare right?

As we’d stuck to the no mix and drink sensibly rules we were all feeling pretty fresh first thing, but as soon as the hills hit the whole bus was feeling very shady and we all had our escape routes plotted to the window or bin. Even I did and I haven’t been car sick since I was a kid. My family think that I no longer got sick due to using up my carsickness quota before I was 10, I was that kid. We all had motion sickness pills and ventured on, no casualties. We made a pretty cute bunch:

Lunch stop was stunning with 270 degree views (90 was hindered by restaurant).

They even had a squat toilet with a view, no expense spared.

They even had a squat toilet with a view, no expense spared.

We arrived in Vang Vieng ‘the tubing place’ in the afternoon and went for a bike ride down jarring roads for some fresh air with a destination of the blue lagoon.
We all have very sore butts now, except Laura as she’s all used to race, used to triathlon, used to it. After 7km we made it and I could have edited this photo like all the ones you see on the internet but I don’t want you to get your hopes up, we were disappointed.

It was a manky grey/blue swimming hole (it was small), filled with Foreigners who couldn’t swim for the life of them, no wonder so many people die in this town, there’s horrible stats from tubing on the river and in this lagoon. So stupid, we saw at least 3 near misses. Thank goodness that we discovered the cave up the cliff face, it promised a great climb and then opened into a stunning cavernous space.

We didn’t last long up there as the sun was setting and we needed to head back, bumpy roads and bikes and darkness = bad idea. Our departure was also hastened by seeing this side profile face in the rocks which is only really clear in a photo and Taylor saw a ghost like figure on her screen earlier, spooky.

We lost all game and decided to chuck our bikes on the roof of a tuk tuk, (we’re athletes I swear) and this enabled us to see the sunset. Love how Laos has hills, except for the motion sickness, this was something Cambodia lacked.

We Korean BBQ’ed for dinner, Everyone should Korean BBQ sometime. This was our dinner post bike ride as was awesome and we even learnt how to poke a hole right through an egg.

The next morning rose to a hot air balloon outside our balcony and set off to go tubing through caves and kayak down the river.

This is the same river that people tube down, though all but 4 bars have been closed and the hoards of party goers you see on the internet aren’t there anymore. Sad how peoples stupidity ruins an otherwise fun activity and the economy of a town that doesn’t have a lot of other attractions to offer, this place will probably be rather dead in a few years… Well, unless they rename the blue lagoon and push the caves and kayaking because that was fun!
No cave photos sorry, taking my phone out in water is silly so you’ll have to wait for us to publish Laura’s waterproof camera photos. The tubing consisted of sitting in a tube and pulling yourself through the caves, it was cool (pun pun pun) though freezing but watching the tourists of Asian descent hop in the tubes (after a demo on how to, isn’t it self explanatory?) fully clothed, jeans and all and coming back soaking was pretty hilarious. Then watching them manage to slip through their tubes while their friends scrambled to grab them just iced the hilarity cake. How? How can people not sit in tubes? I didn’t even get my bikini top wet!

We stopped at elephant cave on the way, expected yesterdays proportions, got this:

The caves namesake elephant and other creatures:

The cave entrance is the black area, it’s about half a meter off the water surface:

New year, new fact: chickens can climb up and down ladders.

Lunch was provided, best mango ever, kebabs and fried rice, all the energy one needs for an 8k kayak!
We bobbed down some rapids, there were about 2 goodies that were real deal water-splashing-could-tip maybe rapids and the rest of the river was smooth. We’ve decided we need to go white water rafting when we return to NZ to get our adrenaline rush. So relaxing and an absolutely stunning day for it!

We stopped at one of the bars for a rest and to watch the odd tuber go past or be pulled in my rope to our resting spot. After getting sun kissed (Laura’s shins are a stunning tomato today) we continued on our way, arriving by kayak outside our hotel at 2.30 for our 3.30 departure to Vientiane. The last stop off the tour before an overnight bus (eugh) to Bangkok.

Vientiane is the capital of Laos, no real activities jumped out at us and we were on a budget of spend all our kips (Laos dollars) but still eat two good meals and save 10000 for the border before our departure at 7pm.
We decided more Wats were out of the equation, still Wat’ted out from Bangkok and Siem Reap!
But here’s our cultural stumbles anyway, the Cultural Hall and That Dam (cool name), respectively.

We then found the best place ever for lunch, Viengsavanh Nem Nueng, a mouthful of a name for a place that provides delicious mouthfuls of food! It was also $2.40 NZD, we’re going back for dinner and spending up large, we’ve got 40000 kip to blow each! That’s $6nzd, holy moly- future food coma!

We were very impressed with Laos, it’s a country I’d return to in a heartbeat. Everyone before this trip had told us how underdeveloped Cambodia was and that Laos was even more so… But other than the roads and power lines Laos is incredibly westernised. Even though the French once reigned over both Cambodia and Laos their influence in Laos still remains very strong, hence the French vibes of mon préféré place Luang Prabang and the endless Parisian cafes, macaroon shops and street names of Vientiane.

Also, considering their supposed financial state (I haven’t actually researched this I’m just taking it at face value and I know families out of the city are not very well off) the Lao people drive the fanciest cars, much nicer than NZ. From vintage Mercedes and jags to Range Rovers and even Suzuki swift sports. No one drives Toyota starlets or Mazda familias here.
Some poser even got his Porsche in gold, vom.

Just in case you thought we were kidding here’s our dinner feast! Missing two bowls of vermicelli noodles. We then bought 2L of water and delicious fruit shakes from ‘fruit heaven’. If I return here I am going to repeat this meal all over again! Taylor (Australian one) wanted to blow all her kips so tipped the juice place 40000, the forgot to save her 10000 for the border, muppet. Good thing her tour buddies are so nice.

We then bought 2L of water and amazing fruit sh

Vientiane gave me my fist bout of travel ills, I got hayfever, nothing serious, dehydrating or gross, just your run of the mill sinus stuffing hayf. Whoopee.
Sleeping pill on the bus will be necessary to get through this one I fear.

The tour was amazing, we’ve met some incredible people, friends we’ll hopefully keep for life with homes from San Diego to Austria, made so many memories and plotted out future holidays. Loved Laos and Cambodia (Siem Reap you were a winner) but now it’s time for Ko Samui, we need some beach rest.