Veni, Vidi, Vang Vieng

After a very nice few days in Luang Prabang we've arrived here in Vang Vieng. We've opted for far less salubrious accommodation here. We're pretty much on the main drag in a hostel called Pan's Place. On checking in I was obliged to write down most of the usual details; name, passport number, nationality but more peculiarly, age. A casual glance down the list of other residents it became very evident that I'm at least twice the age of everyone else. Nevertheless if I use the mean average of our family it brings us more into line with the rest. The accomodation is very much An Oige style. Seventies style bed linen but at least its clean. We took a mini-bus from Luang Prabang but in future I reckon we'll stick with the buses. Because there were only six of us in the mini-bus, the driver would slow to a crawl in every village we passed through in the hope of making a few extra kip in fares. Though he was unsuccessful in his attempts he added at least another hour to the journey here.

Vang Vieng looks like most Laos towns on the surface but as you look around you can see it really is geared to the younger travellers that pass through. Over the past few weeks I've really gotten to like the local Laos grub but there's an absence of local eateries in this place. There is however an abundance of pizza and burger joints. That said it also looks like everything is about half the price of Luang Prabang. That's no bad thing.

Caroline and the three older kids are thinking of going tubing tomorrow morning. I'm thinking of going for a bicycle ride with Paddy. The scenery around here looks pretty incredible so we won't have to go too far by the looks of things. As I'll be doing the cycling I'll have to task Paddy with reading coordinates etc.

As we move south through the country we've definitely favoured some places over others. Luang Nam Tha appears to have been a highlight for the whole family and our stay in Luang Prabang was definitely both easy and comfortable. We're winging it from hereonin and are looking forward to the delights in the south of the country; Tha Kaek, the 4,000 islands and whatever else we see along the way. Journey times appear to be shorter as we move to the lowlands and that is to be welcomed greatly. In two days time we'll have been on the trail for four weeks. Tempus fugit.