I've been in Laos for almost two weeks and I don't feel as though I've experienced Laos properly yet. My sentiments stem from how well I come to know people from that country rather than the people I meet on the way, but if the latter were the case I'd have to say that I found my family here. 

On March 7th I departed from Cambodia in a flood of tears and with a mixed bag of emotions.
 I certainly wanted to stay in this place, eating at our local; where they loved us, exploring on a bike, waving at and taking to locals from the back of a skilfully driven motorbike, hitting up the deliciously warm, man made lake and gazing at the stars which seemed to shine just that much brighter 2km out of the city. But...but a greater part of my mind told me I had to move on, that there was so much left to see and do in the short amount of time I have on this trip.

So. I left. Not 2 hours into the 12 hour drive our bus popped a tyre and we were stuck in something resembling a village for a coupe of hours while it was fixed. Subsequently we missed our connecting bus and spent the night in an almost tourist free town. 
Although at first it seemed like we were going to expire after 1 day in this sleepy town, things picked up on a walk along the river where Cat and Lisa joined in with the local outdoor aerobics class and proved to be great entertainment for the rest of the village. Soon there were about 30 motorbikes full of people who had stopped at the side of the road to watch these two falang dancing in time with their friends, mums and aunts. 
We then went for food and really met each other properly. Our group of stranded travellers consisted of Hicham aka Frenchy, who had managed to coerce the bus driver into paying for our accommodation and a free bus the following day. 
Jenny, a German girl who has very dry humour and lucky for us a little something to keep us happy overnight.
Raechelle, a kiwi with interesting one liners and one of the most expressive faces I've ever seen. 
Cat, my travel buddy from the start who everyone falls in love with immediately. 
And Lisa who is actually so similar to myself it's rather freaky. Obviously I love her massively and not just because she realises when I'm quoting song lyrics in random conversations and completes them or because she rolls her eyes a millisecond before I do, but because she gives me the amount of cheek I give everyone else...perfect! 
After a night of bonding over beers, music and laughter we all became best friends* and were instantly a team. 
At the first rest stop we gained another team member: Tom from Seattle with the most impressive forearms Cat has ever seen! Also one of the the most humorous guys I've met in a while.  

We finally arrived to 4000 islands after almost 2 days of travelling all feeling slightly weary and desperately hungry. The team stuck together, found a place to stay and went for food. After being moved on by the owner of our hostel for being too loud we walked along the dark main street and arrived at the beach where we chatted and watched the stars until we could keep our eyes open no longer.

The following day started really slowly which seems to be very in keeping with things here in Laos. A top tip for anyone travelling to Laos, anticipate being hungry at least one hour before you think you may want to eat, service here is very...relaxed!
After breakfast, which turned into lunch, we found bungalows with a view of the river at sunset and settled in. The day consisted of swimming to a nearby island, finding a 50ft bamboo stick and swimming it to our island, not very productive, but extremely funny.
That night we went to a reggae bar, played cards (obviously I kicked ass!) and had a generally hilarious time. By this point we were already a family and it was great to see how everyone behaved with each other as we relaxed and our real personalities came to the surface, rather than the meeting people personality which everyone has for a while in the beginning. 
Frenchy loves to be in charge of us, telling us where to go and planning fun days, we all really appreciated his plans. Even if at times they were slightly harebrained! Planning while on 4000 islands consisted of frog marching us around the island in search of a bridge while we were all a bit hung over, hiring bikes and cycling to a famous waterfall over 'short cuts' of rice paddies, swimming in a lagoon finding a boat to take us to go and see very rare fresh water dolphins... I could go on!
We spent most nights hanging out on the porch of our bungalow listening to music and chatting. We met quite a few people this way who just came to hang out with a really diverse group of people. On the second night Christian aka Austria turned up and was almost immediately adopted into our wolf pack and hung out with us for the remainder of our time on 4000 islands. 

The next morning the wolf pack split up leaving Germany and Austria on the shore of Don Det, as the girls headed for Vang Vieng and the boys to some caves. Although it had only been a few days it was an emotional farewell, those boys had really looked after us and their company was highly enjoyable.