A bumpy journey along a dusty road through villages and riverside landscapes then up and over mountain passes we arrive at the infamous Viang Veng. Will it be a hell hole full of loud mouthed faux back packers getting away from it all but all doing tubing and buying the tee shirt or will it be wonderfull scenery and a chilled out vibe? It's both - the tubing is pretty cool and its far enough away not to spoil the village completely. Fair enough there are loads of bars playing Friends? - who watched it first time around let alone re-runs sums it up; suits some people others will hate it.

We went to the Aussie Bar and chatted to the owner who gave us a few tips including a walk to a cave and natural swimming pool - walked a mile or so - what a load of rubbish, will it get better?

Walking back we liked the vibe - part backpacker, part tracker and lots of cows walking down the main street - you get the message? We liked it so much we changed our plans and took an extra night here and planned a trip out; at £7 a night we were not breaking the bank . Although the guesthouse is basic it has fabulous views over the Namg Song river and the mountains beyond.

Sunsets here are amazing as the sun drops behind sugar loaf mountains down the end of the valley. There are a few bars where you can watch this happen and take a few snaps that don't do it justice but hopefully you can see the beauty. After the sunsets it gets cold quickly up here and we wrapped up in our tracksuits get the scrabble out and have a Laos meal of papaya salad, mint and pork mince and a red curry. Papaya salad - big mistake lets leave it at that... 

After a bad night we had a great day planned. An early coffee and baguette revitalised us and we jumped on a truck with our new Laos friend Am. Am would be taking us 35km out of town to start our kayaking, tubing and kayaking..... a lot of kayaking believe me.

After a couple of minutes practice Suzanne and Am followed by me started the first leg of our trip through the forest and past a few birds that looked like Hawk and a few rapids, we took about 2 hours to get to the first stop . After a short trek through rural Laos we got to the Elephant cave which is a sacred cave with a rock that looks like our old friend known here as Chang. Once we'd paid our respects it was then down to a 400m cave pull on a tube in the dark with lights fixed to our heads. In the morning this is teaming with people but due to our kayaking we were the only ones in there. The water was ice cold and it took us an hour to un freeze while we waited for Am to rustle up a tasty lunch.

After more kayaking we arrived at the outskirts of Viang Veng to the sound of boom boom boom and about 40 people dancing and drinking and another forty or so getting in or out of their tube to float to the next pit stop. Whisky, beer free mushrooms and happy shakes flowed as much as the river. As serious kayakers we sailed past these distractions, well not that serious as we pulled in for a beer stop of our own. I say pulled in but after 30km of kayaking the stiffness had got to us all and the simple task of getting out of the kayak bacame a struggle so much that I fell in slow motion back in to the river . Suzanne claimed not to have laughed but as I fell I recall a hearty laugh drowning out the music.

Absolutely smashed we made it back to our room got a quick shower and headed for some massage relief and food to ease away the aches. A brilliant day.