Our last night in Luang Prabang was reasonably eventful.As I mentioned we went to Utopia the bar on the river. It's meant to have really nice views but I wouldn't know as we were only ever there when it was dark so all we got from the river were even more mosquitoes! I believe my blood is something of a mosquito delicacy as they seem to be feasting on me as much as they can. Although I have found an insect repellent which actually works, however if you leave one tiny bit of skin unsprayed they find it! Also, at Utopia, you sit on the floor around low tables on cushions which sounds like a nice idea but soon gets pretty uncomfortable to be honest. So not really sure why we went there so much. Hey ho! We had been talking to one of the waiters the couple of nights we went there as on the first night three French guys who were on the table next to us left without paying their bill of approximately 350 000 kip which meant the poor waiter had to pay it and he was nearly in tears. His friend, who also worked there, was asking us if we knew them or had seen them and then he kept talking to us each night. I think I mentioned Luang Prabang has an 11.30pm curfew however the barman told us there was a late night place that stayed open until 1.20am (random time!) and did we want to go. There was me, the Dutch girl, and American and two Germans so off we went in a tuk tuk after some serious negotiation over price. When we arrived at what looked like a warehouse there were hundreds, if not a thousand, motorbikes parked outside and the place was packed! It was quite funny as they had a big screen where they showed videos of "professional" dancers doing routines to the music they were playing - kind of like Pans People from Top of the Pops. We left there and got back to our guesthouse slightly concerned as we had forgotten they usually close and lock the door at midnight. However, as it was Saturday the owners were still up drinking out the front. As we went inside one of them reminded us about our 8am minibus pick up the next morning and we said, yep no problem.

We went downstairs at approximately 7.50am to wait for our pick up. We were very, erm, tired. And hungry. 8am - no minibus. 8.15 - no minibus. 8.30 - no minibus. By this point we were over Lao-time and just wanted to get on the minibus! At 8.50 a tuk tuk arrived - er no, we said, we were told a minibus would pick us up AT 8 AM NOT A TUK TUK AT 8.50!!! Oh, he will take you to the minibus. Ok, whatever. So then we drive around the whole town picking up more and more people until we have to say to the driver there is no physically possible way you can get more people in here. One of them was one of the most infuriating Americans I have ever met, and that is saying something because the vast majority of them are irritating. We eventually get to the bus station and get asked about a million times "two people two people". Yes, I say, there are two of us. Oh wait wait we are told. So we are waiting, waiting, waiting, Lianne goes to get us food and returns with two Pot noodle type things which were actually really nice. In the meantime they find a minibus for us and I have to drag our stuff over so we can get on. We demolish our pot noodle and still we haven't left. Just to describe the minibus - mini is being kind. I have never ever had such little leg room on any form of transport in my entire life. Dad - you would have refused to get in because I don't see how you could have got in. Even some Japanese people on there were struggling! Then, just to make it even worse another irritating "oh my god, oh yeah, oh whatever, oh I was like" American girl got on but thankfully she was "so totally wasted" from the night before she slept most of the way which meant she shut up before I lost my temper. She was travelling with an equally irritating English guy who knew everything about the world. We hadn't even left and already I was in a bad mood. We left about 9.45am and then it got even worse! The road was even windier than any other road in Asia and I started to feel quite ill (and no, it wasn't a hangover!). Also the van was meant to have air con but this didn't work whenever we went up hill which was about ¾ of the time!!! When we stopped I just wanted to get out, move my legs to prevent DVT and breathe some fresh air. Irritating English guy who was sitting right by the door had a million bags with him and made sure he took his time moving them, putting on his shoes, getting out so we were all trapped inside until he actually moved. It is safe to say I never want to get on one of these minibuses again.

We eventually made it to Vang Vieng, found a tuk tuk and headed to a guesthouse that had been recommended to us. Not before some aging German hippy told us we were being ripped off by the tuk tuk driver - he reckoned we could save the equivalent of 50p. My response to him was "this is our tuktuk, we want to get to our guesthouse, it's my money and I will pay what I want" which shut him up.The guesthouse was really nice and after a shower we headed into "town" for some food. We met our Finnish friends and went to bed around 8pm (living the dream). After sleeping for around 12 hours we were ready for tubing! This involves hiring a huge rubber ring, getting a tuk tuk up river then floating back down stopping at lots of bars along the way who have rope swings, slides etc. It's quite tacky but it is fun. In our tuk tuk were two Australian girls and a weird older man. There is a bar as soon as you get off the tuk tuk and we went in there first. We started reasonably early but we wanted to take our time. After a couple of drinks we got in our tubes and went to the next bar. We ended up staying here for a while as it started raining and we wanted other people to catch up with us. Eventually there was a big group of us floating downstream from bar to bar. The day went on quite nicely until someone realised it was 5pm and our rings had to be back by 6 otherwise you would lose some of your deposit and it took an hour from the last bar to float to the end. There were quite funny scenes of people paddling frantically to try and go faster and sometimes people would go sailing past you as they had managed to get into a good current. I eventually made it out of the river, I had lost my friends but was with one of the Australians, and as we were walking down the street with our tubes people were calling "quick quick its 6, quick" and we just made it. I since found out I would only have lost about 20 000 kip which is about 1 pound 50 but never mind! Met up with my friends and we went back for showers agreeing to meet later with the Australians. However I think they must have gone to sleep and then we ate, had one drink then were so tired we went to bed as well! Next day we got the local bus to Vientiane (the capital city). The local bus was much better than a minibus, slower yes, but at least I could actually move and there was a nice lack of annoying Americans. WE decided just to stay in Vientiane one night as there was nothing much to see there and Lianne is running out of time. Our room was so hot neither of us slept more than one hour. Before we went to bed we had a Beer Lao on our balcony and discovered we were staying in the red light district - something the lonely Planet guidebook fails to inform you of.Next day we got up early and went to a Western style coffee shop in the hope they would have air con and my body would stop overheating. They had aircon but it wasn't cold enough! Into a tuk tuk we got in order to get a bus to Ban Khoun Kham from where we could vist Kong Lo cave. At the bus station we were told the direct buses had stopped (it was only 9am) and we would have to change at some village for another bus.OK, we said and on we got. We left the bus station, drive for about two minutes then stopped and about ten people jumped on trying to sell us food and drinks. They have an interesting sales technique where they throw the food onto your lap, go away, come back and think that because it is on you you will buy it! Er, no. I don't want any chewing gum, meat on a stick or anything else. We were there for aaaages -again we had to remember we were on Lao time. Eventually we got moving. The back of the bus was full of boxes of stuff as the buses serve as a goods transportation lorry as well and I occasionally got smacked in the head by a box whilst enjoying the smell of burning brakes when the driver stopped to let people on or off. At least it helped me sleep - the combination of exhaustion, concussion and possible inhalation of poisonous gases was a powerful one. Eventually we stopped in the middle of nowhere and the conductor gestured for us to get off so off we get "Ban Khoun Kahm" we asked to which he just shrugged. Luckily I spotted another backpacker who turned out to be another Dutch girl (they are everywhere) who had got off the bus in front of us and who was being led to a sawng-thaew (big tuk tuk) so I shouted Ban Khoun Kham and he nodded so we followed. Then we waited some more. Whilst we were waiting there were two women with two little kids eating white grubs out of what looked like honeycomb and they also offered me a crab from their plastic bag full. I declined. Whilst queuing to buy some rice and an unidentified product wrapped in a banana leaf a lorry drove past us packed, and I mean packed, with dogs and cats some alive, some dying and some dead. It was pretty horrific and not something I ever want to see again. Where we were was on the road towards the Vietnam border and I can only guess that that is where they were headed. It kind of put me off my food. Eventually we were on our way again then one of the kids was throwing up in a plastic bag from too many grubs. We made it to the village and had already decided to treat ourselves to air con and we found a nice cheap guesthouse and blasted ourselves with cold air. WE went to a little restaurant and got given huge portions of food and while we were eating the power went off which was typical when we had air con. Luckily it came back on after about half an hour. Next morning we got in another big tuk tuk to head to the cave. We had to wait a while whilst they roped a fridge to the back of it. You go through the cave on a boat, a small boat which in our case had a hole in it which let in a not insignificant amount of water. The cave was brilliant but because the water levels are lowering we occasionally had to get out and wade through the river in the pitch black while our guides carried the boat further up. That was fun! WE returned back the same way and after taking off my lifejacket I felt something on my arm. Thinking it was a fly I smacked it off and it was a tarantula!!!! It was huge. The other two girls freaked out even though I was the one with it on my arm! We headed back to the village, then back to the crossroads, and waited to flag down the next bus from Vientiane to take us down to Tha Khaek. It was a VIP bus so had air con - yay! WE got to Tha Khaek quite late but all we needed to do there was use the ATM which quelle surprise was broken. So we had to get up early to go to the ATM, go back to the guesthouse, pay our bill, get a tuk tuk to the bus station and get on the 8.30 bus to Paske. So there we were at 8am to buy our ticket only to be told the 8.30 bus was "broken" and we would have to wait until 10.30. In the normal world they would get another bus but not in Laos. So we had to wait for two and a half hours. A man with a basket with two chickens got on and there was a monk who I'm not allowed to look at or sit next to being a mere girl. People randomly got on to sell us food including some attractive looking insects on sticks. WE had a long lunch stop where two boys packed the bus with massive bags of rice and basically bricked me into my seat. They also put two motorbikes on the roof. We eventually made it to Paske and decided to stay here a day before heading down to Si Phan Don or 4000 Islands where we go tomorrow.