Laos

We flew in to Vientiane, Laos. Because the buses were called the “buses from hell”. They were so overcrowded that people sat on rise bags in the isle for 17 hours.

We were heading to Vang Vieng. And on our way to my new favourite town, we met Jenny from NYC, Michael from England and Abraham from Mexico.

We were now a group of five.

We checked in at Pan's Place, and got each our bungalow, with nothing but a mattress on the floor.

On the front door they quoted Eagle's song: “You can checkout any time you want, but you can never leave”. And I couldn't have said it better my self.

We we're suppose to stay for 3 days. We stayed for 12.
The city was just about to wake up, and it was a funny sight. As the food stalls and restaurants were opening, backpackers, covered in permanent marker, their eyes bloodshot and their bodies hurting, was crawling home after a night out.  It is hard to explain the atmosphere in

Vang Vieng, it is something you have to see with your own eyes. It's so relaxed, it's absolutely amazing.

The town is know for the tubing. And I'm pretty sure I'll never see anything like that again. Tubing involves hiring a tube, and then float down the Nam Song river. Both side of the riverbanks are filled with bars. Feel like a cheap bucket? Or a cold beer? Or even free bananas? Well then wave your hand at the staff, they'll throw out a bamboo stick and pull you in. You park your tube, and let the fun begin. Since everything ends up wet, promotions of free drinks are written on people's bodies. Speakers pumping out music, loads of other backpackers, sun, and fun. Yes it started off very well. But each bar also have a very unsafe route in to the water. You climb up on a unsteady platform, and launch your self in to the river. After a beer or five, the thirty feet tall swing doesn't look that terrifying any more, and we all ended up with some pretty bad bruises. But we made it to the finish line, and were still so amazed by the hole plot that you soon forgot about your aching body. There was no time to rest, we were all struggling not to fall asleep during dinner, but after another bucket, you feel surprisingly fine. Until the next day...

So what did we do for 12 days?

We slept, ate, drank, and slept some more. But after a few days the guilt was sneaking up on us, so we thought it was time to explore the town, which made me love the little town even more.

We met the most amazing people from every corner of the world, it was such an easy life style, and life back home seemed so far away.

The friendships you make when you're travelling is something special. You've only know each other for a week or two, but it feels like the most natural thing in the world. I guess it's all the new things you experience together. And probably the fact that you're together pretty much 24 hours a day. My friends from Vang Vieng was a big part of our travels, It wouldn't have been the same without them. And one of the main reasons I am here in Dublin today, is because of another Irish guy I met in the same town, Adam. One of the down sides about travelling is saying good bye. Because who knows when you'll see these people again.

I didn't want to leave my new friends, and I didn't want to leave the charming little town. But unfortunately the fairytale doesn't last forever. And new adventures were waiting for us around the next corner.