Robbe and Micki Travel the World

Greetings from Vientiane,

It seems like Micki has decided that photos are her thing and thus you guys are stuck with me :)

After having seen our last meals one time too many (as well as getting bored of Luang Prabang) we needed some fun to get us going again. We were not sure if Vang Vieng would deliver but boy did it ever deliver! Vang Vieng is like Disney World for adults (on second thought frat boys). It is a small village inbetween Luang Prabang and Vientiane where almost every backpacker stops to sample some of the action on offer (most of which involve beer). On our first day we hirde bicycles and sampled the countryside which is pretty much the same as Yang shuo but in some ways a little better. We hiked up to a cave and spent some time swimming in a clear blue stream near one of the small villages around Vang Vieng. In the evening we went out to one of the "friends bars". The friends bars are what have later become known as Svena's Happy Place (Svena loves friends). The friends bars are lounge style bars that show the popular tv show friends all day long. You sit down, order beer and pizza and then spend the following three hours watching friends... perfect :D

On day 2 we opted for Vang Viengs' second tourist attraction: Tubing! Tubing is pretty much what the word would entail. You jump in a tube (old tractor tire) and float down the river while drinking beer. The locals have made several bars along the river and are quite happy to pull you in so that you can get a beer lao or three (along with a free shot of lao lao). To make things more safe and secure they ahve built huge swings, slides and zip-lines out over the river so that you won't get bored :) Needless to say it was loads of fun!!! The evening was ofcourse spent at a friends bar (there are also "family guy" and "the office" bars but these are not as good).

Yesterday we took a bus down from Vang Vieng to Vientiane. This was by far the worst busride yet. We where squished in 6 people on the back row of a bus built around 1912 and not repaired since. Today we spent the day walking around sampling the sights and enjoying a very good avocado sallad and tonight I get to watch the premier league in our hotel room because we have cable! Nice!!! (Micki is also thrilled about this).

Tomorrow we plan to take the night bus to Pakse in southern Laos.

Best regards

Robert

p.s: Micki has uploaded photos for the both of us (I think) so go ahead and check them out.