We biked on from Poukoun to Kasi, a mid-way stop on our way to Vang Vieng. The route climbed to a high point overlooking another totally unbelievable karst landscape-lobes of weathered limestone pinnacles oddly jutting and drooping in all directions. We descended into the valley below and rode parallel to what turned out to be a ribbon of limestone that continued for several miles. The views continued to Kasi where we found a small partially built guest house. The owner spoke French and told me all about his time in the military, his contempt for violence, and his contentment with recent retirement. Strangely enough it was the first personal conversation I had with a local outside the usual exchanges of personal details, travel plans, etc. It had everything to do with his comfort with the language I'm sure.

Vang Vieng was a giant playground. We stayed for a week in a bungalow on the edge of the Nam Song. It was easy to avoid the dodgy downtown area we were well warned about- the stories of Friends playing on a continuous loop and hopped up young'ns roaming the streets and walking in not-so straight lines were all true. We ended up spending all of our time poking around the giant limestone massif and the 20 or so square kilometers of "playground" surrounding it that was a convenient ankle deep river-wade away. There were caves aplenty to explore- enormous caverns with shimmering walls and formations falling from the walls like dripping wax, and slender tubular caves that required exhalations and carefully engineered bodily contortions to explore. Despite my raging claustrophobia, one of the best cave trips led down to a pitch black swimming hole accessible by rickety wire ladder. The more picturesque places to cool off were the unbelievably blue lagoons equipped with rope swings and tree branch jumps. We hiked, biked, caved and swam are hearts out, which solidly brands Vang Vieng as a cherished spot. My kind of paradise!

Dave's bike continues to die a slow death. He broke a pedal while attempting to ride on to Vientiane. We delayed a day and found a 15 Kip set of replacement pedals at the market. Unfortunately they stripped his crank and left us on the side of the road a few miles out of town. Luckily we waited only ten minutes before a direct bus to VT came rambling along and picked us up. Our bikes were strapped to the roof for no extra charge and five hours later we were in the capital in search of the Thai embassy.