After a very bumpy and winding road we arrived in Vang Vieng, the capital of tubing in Laos. Before floating down the river in truck tyre inertubes we decided to visit some other local sights. On our first day in Vang Vieng we hired some bikes and ventured onto yet another bumpy road and cycled 7km to a cave in the hills with a 'blue lagoon' at it's base. When we arrived we were quite wet from a sudden downpour and so decided to climb up to the cave first to dry off a bit so we would enjoy the dip a bit more. The cave was huge and involved a lot of clambering. Before climbing up we were advised to hire a torch (we had, foolishly, forgetten one, and were very glad we took them up on the offer as the cave was soon pitch black. A bit further in we found a golden reclining Buddha and not long after that Maz got scared so we turned back. We headed down to the 'blue lagoon' to find a raging river with a rope swing and ropes to hold on once you were in the water. Tom went in but Maz sat it out, sure she would get swept downstream. Just as we were about to head back it started pouring down with rain so we waited a while till it stopped and by the time we got back we were so tired and hungry we couldn't go to the other cave we planned to visit. This turned out to be a blessing as we found out later it had flooded!

The next day was tubing day. We had a bit of a lay in, don't want to start drinking to early, then headed to rent our tube. After another bumpy ride, this time in a tuk tuk we got to the drop point on the river and were immediately ferried across to the first bar. We played our first ever game of beer bong and inevitably lost but not before putting up a bit of a fight! The next bar had a free rope swing so Tom jumped in a few times and from then on we only stopped in places you could jump in. The next morning we both had whopping hangovers, of course, but had to go in a minivan on another bumpy and windy road to Phonsavanh.