Vang Vieng is a stop in between Vientiane and Luang Prabang and for all travellers' a standard stop-off along the way. The Lonely Planet doesn't exactly rate Vang Vieng as the most cultural spots in Laos.. but it had to be visited. It was a mixture of *amazing* limestone landscapes (if not the best we've seen) surrounding the small town, together with 10's of TV bars showing re-runs of 'Friends' throughout the entire course of the day, with backpackers coming back high from tubing down the Nam Song River.

Did we like it? Yes and no. Firstly, we were like 'Hell, no! This isn't Laos!..' And the next second it was 'Hmm.. I haven't chilled watching Friends for ages.. with a nice shake and comfy sofa..' We found a great guesthouse (called 'Grand View' - and they weren't lying) and spending two days with the most awesome view from our balcony made Vang Vieng well worth the stop..:

We left Vang Vieng for an extremely scenic 7-hour drive to Luang Prabang. Although, the driver never made photo-stops on the mountains :( Luang Prabang is listed as a World Heritage site. It's got that oldy-worldy charm to it, with the best night market in SE Asia I think, most beautiful boutique shops and cafes/restaurants to die for. Although there are a lot of Westerners, the town retains it's culture which is really good to see. We spend Lao New Year here (12th-16th April) which we've been told is especially good here with there being 35 temples, countless monks and a religious attitude that not many places still have to offer. I'll hopefully be blogging about those days individually..