Vang Vieng in the morning is a sleepy little town in Laos. In the late afternoon the backpackers return from tubing and swimming and it becomes a thriving party town full of drunk and drugged young people. Never the less, it’s a great little place and I have enjoyed my stay here.

Yesterday morning we had what had to have been one of the highlights of my trip so far. 5 of us jumped on ATV’s (quad bikes) and headed out of town to the Blue Lagoon and Pou Kham Caves. The ride out to the caves was brilliant – It was dirty, dusty and so much fun. We rode 40 minutes out into the countryside, went past some villages and ended up at the Lagoon.

The climb up to the caves was 10 minutes straight up and about 20 minutes coming down on your butt because it was so steep but it was pretty spectacular. Even the photos I took didnt really show how steep it was.

By the time we got back to town, you could hardly wipe the smile off my face! I was covered in dust, filthy dirty but it was so worth it.

Once we had cleaned up and had showers we headed out to the local bakery for lunch (and a very nice lunch it was too). Finally we descended en masse to a local massage shop and had massages for about £4 (US$6) each. After a trip back to the hotel for a rest, 9 of us went out for dinner later and then had the most wonderful Laos pancakes from a roadside stall on the way home. It was yet another brilliant day in Laos.

We move on from Vang Vieng today to go to Vientiene, the capital of Laos. After that it’s Hanoi in Vietnam and this part of the trip is over. I will miss the guys I’ve travelled with through Thailand and Laos but no doubt we will keep in touch and I am meeting up with some of them in Bangkok so it’s not all bad.