Okey Dokey,

Im on a roll with this site, but don't expect I'll keep it up for long!

We stayed in Vangviene in Laos another night so Robyn could indulge one more time on the tubing trip with a rather handsome Australian gent who bought her a birthday cake on the day he met her :op (Must be love!)

Alana & I thought it would be nice to take it easy for the day and go on a nice bike ride to some caves and have a mooch around! Well...It was probably one of the hottest stuffiest days we have had in a while and turns out the caves were 13km away, doesn't sound so bad but with no shade and mainly uphill we almost came to an untimely end!

We arrived at the caves and had to pay various "fees". We entered the cave and it was huge and we were given head lamps. We thought the caves were just large stroll in and out caves so we didn't come very prepared for what was to come! Handbags and flip flops and alana in a skirt doesn't work well when you are crawling through a cave!

After a few crawls and ducks we reach a point that appears to be the end, then the guide says...'you can swim?'

We look at each other...We look at the pool of water and the head gap...We look at him...We look at ourselves..."Not with our handbags we can't" replies Alana

"You leave here we'll come back"

Hmmm deliberate....Sod it, we take off what we can and head towards the water....ICE COLD!!!! and superbly my head lamp gives up! So, great, in water upto our chins, ice cole, deep in a cave, with no head lamp! This was surely cause for some more hysterical laughter from both Charlotte and Alana. We walk through the tiny gap and come out into some more cave...worth it really it was quite nice in there just shame we couldn't take our cameras through there! We head back out and onto another cave where you sit in a rubber tube and pull yourself through the cave with a rope...much smaller and a bit pointless but still fun.

We then got a bit lost in the rice fields trying to find our way home. An began our 13km journey back to town. Passing every house and village was brilliant as all the children should hello and wave, very sweet! Sabaai Dii (Hello)

Robyn meets us back at the guest house with Claire, both wobbling and talking ten times any comprehensible speed. They go out for the evening for more drinking whilst Alana and I rest our sore behinds from 26km + of cycling!

The next day we miss our bus in the morning, as Robyn still hadn't appeared from being on the lash (birthday weekend, so understandable really) We then get a local bus at lunchtime which was rammed, half a bum on the seat for 4hours wasn't doing the cycle butt any favours! ;op 

Then we get an overnight sleeper bus, from Vientiene to Pakse. Then another Songathew (makeshift local bus) to the Laos-Cambodia border. Stopping on the way at a delightful waterfall.

We don't have enough money to even afford all 3 visas so luckily we had befriended a Thai dude and he lent us the money. We then were faced with a straight open road an no bus service just the most annoying man I've ever met offering ever so kindly to take us up the road for...WAIT FOR IT...$200...RIP ME OFF PLEASE???!!! We eventually managed to get him down to $150 to take us all the way to Phnom Penh...6hour journey...not bad work girls! We had to agree to hand over our passports until we got to an ATM as we didn't have a penny!

So here we are in Cambodia, Phnom Penh. We are having to spend 4days here to arrange our visas for China and India. So lots of sightseeing ahead me thinks!

Apparently there is some kind of cyclone and eveyone is worried if we are still alive...I can assure you we are all live and kicking and healthy and one can be in Asia! ;o) We haven't even heard about it so we must be well out of it's way!

Miss you all

Love you more

Charls, Alana and Robeeena

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <3 <3