A bungling backpacker plunged straight into a hotel swimming pool while he was trying to ride away on a scooter.

The guest mounted his rented moped but lost control of the steering while he was accelerating out of the resort in Vang Vieng, Laos, on November 24.

Clearly inexperienced on the motorised two-wheelers prevalent across Asia, he panicked and put his feet to the ground while still keeping his right wrist on the throttle.

Onlookers rushed to help him from the water and he was unharmed but embarrassed following the motorcycle fail in the idyllic but dangerous Southeast Asian Communist republic.

Resort owner Trinh Quoc Tuan said the rider laughed at himself when he watched the CCTV recording of his riding blunder.

Trinh said: 'The other guests were quick to help. We were relieved he was not hurt. His scooter was still in the mechanic.'