Lao is excellent

Well the bus journey passed without incident. I took enough Imodium to block up a small elephant or medium sized German and made it through okay.
I arrived in Vang Vieng and had the get-there-in-the-dark-get-to-a-guesthouse-crash-out-and-then-wake-up-and-go-fucking-hell-when-you-see-the-scenery-you-couldnt-see-the-night-before moment that seems customary for Lao. Unlike Thailand, or what I saw of Thailand anyway, Lao conforms absolutely to the idea I had in my head as to what Southeast Asia should look and be like.
Just to recap - I crossed into Lao at Huay Xai, stayed there one night and got on a slowboat down the Mekong River the next morning. Stayed overnight at a one-horse town called Pak Beng and then had another day on the boat getting to Luang Prabang that evening. Luang Prabang was beautiful with fantastic river views wherever you looked. Took it easy there for a few days, got terrible nightmarish diorrhoea as detailed previously(ventured out at one point to get some antibiotics and nearly passed out by the roadside. My vision was blurry, everything was blindingly bright, I was pouring sweat but made it back to the guesthouse bathroom on time, though it was a photo finish. Not something you would actually want to take a photo of I guess. I'm just saying it was close) and then came here to Vang Vieng.
I walked 7km out of town to a big Buddha cave the day before yesterday and went kayaking yesterday. Felt a bit stiff today so have just had a Swedish massage and am subsequently very relaxed, as well as being all shiny and smelling of petunia oil.
I shall go tubing tomorrow. God, it's a hard life. Tee hee.