Smuggled into Laos

When we last heard from our intrepid explorers they were about to embark on a 24 hour bus trek from Hanoi in Vietnam across the border into Laos. Suspicions that this wasn't going to go smoothly were aroused straight away when all the luggage areas of the bus were full with strange, well wrapped packages by the time we arrived. The guys running the bus then proceeded to squash our rucksacks around the edges. We were basically camouflage for whatever they were smuggling across the border!

During the middle of the night they stopped the bus and turned off all the lights and air conditioning so the driver could have a nap for 3 hours. I should mention that one of the side effects of the anti malaria tablets we are on is very vivid dreams. This combined with the heat and long journey proved too much for Conor. He imagined a truck was careening towards the parked bus and woke the entire back seat shouting "NO, NO" in his sleep. I was convinced somebody was trying to rob me through the window and spent 5 minutes "sleep elbowing" empty air.

Crossing the border was fine until the bus suddenly stopped and all the packages were hurriedly dispatched to smaller vans with tinted windows. I have never seem the normally relaxed locals move so fast. A short while later we found out what the rush was about because we went through a police checkpoint! I would love to know what was in those bags.

We spent one night in the Laos capital Vientiane (where we watched Leinster play in some final, not really that important a game) before moving on to Vang Vieng to go tubing. Tubing is basically floating down a river in inflated tractor tyre tubes and stopping at various pubs (which are basically shacks) along the way. There are water slides, ziplines, mudbaths and swings dotted along the river too. We met up with some South African guys from the boat trip in Ha Long Bay and spent two days on the river. It was amazing, see Conor's audition for the Spiderman 4 below. We all left Vang Vieng covered in bruises, unable to lift our arms above shoulder level but happy.

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Special thanks to Gary O' Donoghue from Killorglin who owns the The Rising Sun bar for all the hospitality. If you are ever in town drop in for the chicken and mushroom pie, epic!