My trip from the Kong Lor Caves was a full day, the plan was to get from the caves to Luang Prabang. This require catching a 7:00 am bus from kong Lor to Vientiane which was a five hour journey. Once there I needed to organise a night bus to Luang Prabang, I met a couple of people on the bus who already had a hostel booked in Vientiane, so rather than sit out at the bus depot all day I went into town with them and organised my bus ticket through the hostel. This meant I would have a pickup from there to the bus allowing me to leave my bags there for the day and explore the town.

There is not a lot of interest for me there except for one thing, the city is famous for coffee and I finally had a really latte after weeks of drinking black coffee. It was great to sit down and drink it and enjoy a nice chicken wrap as well. After my coffee fix I wandered around the town and along the river. I then went back to the hostel for dinner and to wait for my bus pickup.

The bus trip was great, I convinced the driver that because of my foot I was better in the back row that had more leg room and since the bus was not full I ended with the three back beds all to myself.

I had a great sleep and ended up in Vientiane around 6:00am the following morning. After getting to my hostel and freshening up I decided it was time to wake up Alan and Sanne who I had left in Don Det and meeting up with again here. It was so great to see them again.

It was raining the day I arrived, so we did not get up to a lot that day, most of the spent eating and drinking and later in the night we had a crazy night in a local night club, we were the only westerners there and our dancing style was a lot different to them, there were a lot of cameras out and I would not be surprised if we end up on Laos Youtube some day.

The next day we went out and looked and the local waterfalls and then went back to eating and drinking. On our last day it was the big farewell day, so we planned a big day. I actually got up early and had a big walk around the town before meeting up with the guys for breakfast. When then walked up the mountain in the middle of the town to see the temple and take in the views.

We then all went for a massage which was a luxury for the trip, I then when and talk to some of the trekking companies based in the town. A lot of treks up north start from here and I wanted to talked to them in person and see what they have available. I am thinking of coming back here next year for a one week trek.

We then all met up again for some pre dinner drinks before going to one of the up market restaurants for a our final meal together.

The next morning we all got up early and went to the airport together, Alan and Sanne were heading to Bangkok for the final days of their holiday and I went to Hanoi. I decided the cost of the flight was worth having to miss a 30 bus trip.

Once I was settled into my hostel I went for a walk around the city and found a barber to get them to run clippers over my hair and beard, it was a lot easier than trying to shave it all off. I then started making plans on what I was going to do for the final part of my trip. I was running out of days and had a couple of places I really wanted to spend time. After finding out the bus schedules I decided to catch the night bus the following night to Phong Nha where there is a large UNESCO protected National Park with apparently some amazing caves to visit.

The next day I went on a walking tour around the city, I did not need to catch the bus until 6pm that night so it gave me the whole day to explore the city. The bus that night was really good and I managed to sleep nearly the entire way to Phong Nha getting there about 5:30am. When I had book my accommodation I had also booked a day trip to two of the caves. So I just had some breakfast and got to know guest of my new hostel while I waited for tour to start at 8:30.