Friday 9th April - Good Friday - Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng - Got the local VIP bus to our next destination - Vang Vieng - about a 6 hour journey through the mountains of Laos. The bus was loaded with cargo (3 or 4 washing machines!) as well as people. After about an hour we got a puncture so there was a quick stop whilst the tyre was changed. We thought the spare didn't have much tred but the one that was taken off was worse. There was no tred whatsoever, it was completely bald! (No MOTs here we suspect!). An hour or so later we stopped again. Little did we know why. We got out only to find that an earlier VIP bus had left the road and fallen down the mountain side. It had fallen so far we couldn't even see it. It bought us all back to reality! 'There but for the grace of God go I' thoughts in everyone's head. Not a nice experience as you can imagine. We haven't heard much about what happened but it is thought 3 people were killed. So if you have heard anything about this at home don't worry we are ok. For a while every was a bit nervous on the bus especially throght the low cloud where you could hardly see ahead but we made it safe and sound and arrives at about 4.30pm. The scenery on the way was spectacular, luscious green mountains and valleys. Took the first guest house we came across for $4 a night (you wouldn't believe how cheap everything is in this part of the world)and went out for yet another delicious meal!
Derek was again practising his language skills with locals when we were invited in to join a family who offered us a Lao beer . We accepted so as not to appear rude. The man poured half the beer for himself and his son and gave us the rest - only to charge us for the beer when we left! We had to laugh at the cheek of him!

Saturday 10th April - Vang Vieng. (Happy birthday Sharon Farmer). Another fried breakfast for peanuts. For Derek only - Sue took the healthy version of fruit, museli and yogurt. So hired bikes again to work it off! Intended to ride to some caves but as usual got lost and ended up peddling through paddy fields (dry at this time of the year) although it was a bit slippery cause it rained again this morning. Ended up wading through two rivers (bikes in tow) to get back home! As a result Derek's sandal fell apart at the seams - not to worry - off we went to the local shoe fixer! He was just on his way home but as soon as we showed up he was back to work and 5 minutes and a few stitches later the shoes was as good as new! The locals have started celebrating the Loas New Year which is on 13th and 14th April so we have to be careful not to be soaked with water as you walk/cycle by . The custom is to drench everyone with water as they pass no matter who they are. We have escaped lightly so far!

Sunday 11th April - Today we went tubing down the river (that's floating down the river in an inflated tractor tyre inner tube for those of you that don't know)and it was so slow that we had to use our shoes to make some progress - it took us about 2.5 hours which was quick compared to some people who took 5 hours plus. We ended up back in our favourite bar on the river and had a well deserved beer. Derek was followed for some of the way by a dead rat floating in the river! We had another massage later. We walked around the local market wbere they were selling what can only be described as sun-dried rats! Rats that had their hair and inards removed - head, feet, tail and skin still intact and put out to dry - very odd. Also saw nice bowls of black beetles for sale. Derek managed to cut his toe tripping on a step later on in the restaurant and the lady in the restaurant came to the rescue with a disinfectant and bandage!

Monday 12th April - Vang Vieng - Hired bikes again to go and see some caves - this time after much sweating (through very muddy puddles and rough terrain from previous night's violent thunderstorm!) and getting lost we finally got to a lagoon and caves . The was a rope to launch yourself into the deep end so Sue duely did! There was some mountaineering involved to get to the caves so we ended up giving that a miss. Also it was too hot to cycle back to the hotel so adventurers that we are we jumped in a local taxi (the rotavator variety - picture to follow!). Evening time we joined Sonia and Matt, pharmacists from Switzerland who we'd met a couple of times previously (who we originally met in the Indian in Pakbeng on the night of the thunderstorm), for dinner and drinks.


A couple of Derek's culinary observations so far -

The best Indian we had was in Laos (not India!)
The best Thai we had was in Hong Kong
And the best porridge we had was on the beach in Goa!

Crazy but true!

Happy Easter to everyone! No Easter eggs here (though Sue says I never bought her one anyway!)