Instead of just continuing to Vientiane by bus, we had organised to do a kayaking trip on the Nam Lik River which involved an hour and a half drive south of Vang Vieng, kayaking downriver approximately 10km and then continue  a further hour and a half drive to the nations capital, thus combining a necessary journey with a fun one.

We were the only customers for this particular trip as most people just do a kayaking trip near Vang Vieng, before returning to their hotel for the night. For the trip down to the river I asked to sit in the back seat of the dualcab, rather than in the tray part where they first told us to go.  Of course there were no seatbelts but infinitely more comfortable than the hard bench seats and being coated with dust from the road.  The two kayaking guides got in the back of the truck with our bags. I get a bit miffed when they don’t offer this in the first place and we have to ask – especially travelling with children.

The kayaks were the inflatable kind and we first started with the kids in front of each of our kayaks.  A couple of km’s downstream the guides pulled over to the side so we could swap passengers – the girls going with a guide each and Dave and I together to go through the first of three grade 2 rapids. Fun!

We pulled over again around 12.30 for lunch and the guides cooked some kebabs while we and the girls had a few goes of walking upstream and sliding in off the rocks into the water and being taken downstream by the current.  We had our kebabs with rice and baguettes, and after an hour were on the river again, with the girls back in our kayaks.

We compared this trip with a kayaking trip we all did in Borneo in 2010 where the guides took plenty of photos on their waterproof camera so we wouldn’t have to worry about carrying one and then burned onto a disc (or emailed) it all at no charge.  Unfortunately the Laos guides didn’t offer to take any photos of us together and stayed quite a way in front or behind when on the river, making this request difficult anyway, another example of the indifference of practical matters.  Luckily I had thought to ask for a waterproof bag so we could take our camera and valuables so we were able to take some snaps as we went, as  I doubt they would have offered it.

This particular tour is sold from both Vang Vieng and Vientiane and our understanding was that the transportation down to Vientiane would be comparable to the transportation from Vang Vieng to the starting point.  Imagine our dismay when, after changing into dry clothes and jumping back in the truck they drove out to the main road, flagged down a local bus, moved some locals and their produce to make some room for us along the back seat, threw our bags in and told the driver to drop us in downtown Vientiane.  Sneaky and underhanded … or a genuine case of difference of expectation? David looked on incredulous and asked whether we should say anything – I just said I was sick of arguing on the back of the day before (the scooter episode) and just wanted to get to Vientiane, and boarded the bus. An unfortunate end to an otherwise enjoyable day.

We had three nights in Vientiane,  and almost immediately came a feeling of being back in civilisation – decent coffee, better infrastructure and a nice choice of accommodation at the Auberge Sala Inpeng, close to the river, night markets and the odd grocery shop and cafes.

We hadn’t planned to do anything really so the first day we went back to a café where David had asked directions from when we first got off the bus – managed by a young American guy.  We stopped by for lunch and ended up sitting there the whole afternoon – they had a little playground outside and a play corner full of toys that the girls didn’t want to leave!  I had brought the laptop along and sat in the air-conditioning researching and catching up on some blogging. Dave went in search of an ATM and a store to restock some toiletries and such.

The next day we set off to find another public pool to cool off, finding the closest one about six blocks away – the home of the Lao national swim team – a very run down 25m pool that has seen better days!

Our last night in South-East Asia concluded with a quick walk through the night markets and dinner at a local restaurant where we reminiced about our great time in Thailand, our wonderful surprise and delight at Cambodia and our impressions of Laos – fabulous scenery but less taken with the people.  We psyched ourselves for the next chapter of our journey – India! We were as ready as we would ever be….bring it on!