Laos

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After leaving Chaing Mai, I made my way up to a little town called Chaing Kong, it is just one main road that runs through the town, right on the boarder between Thailand and Laos.
Its from here you then cross the Meekong to head to Laos, so the next day, we all jumped in a long tail, and took the 1 min ride across the river.

After Organising our visa's we got on the slow boat.... They call it this for a reason! To get from Chaing Kong, to Luang Prabang, in a bus would take 12 ish hours, but via Slow boat.... 8 hours one day, 10 hours the next. It gives you alot of time too, well not do much, they pack you in so tight, you pretty much dont have much space to do anything. But you do meet alot of new people on the boat.
Over night we stopped at this little town, I cant remeber the name, but it only really exists for the stop over of the slow boats. so once again just another one street town! Although here, they were in the middle of a 3 day festival... for what I dont know, it took me days to work that much out. But the night we got there, it was the youth paty. So we all headed down, and danced till the early morning.....well I danced here and there, but it was fun all the same. It was here that I had my first experiance of Lao people. As we walked in, everyone was so nice, there were tables streched back about 50 meters, and the whole way, the guys were giving us hi-fives, and welcoming us. I tried to give some of the girls hi-fives, but they werent into it.... I think it could be offensive.... I stopped after that! When we got to the party all the Lao guys and girls, wanted to dance with us. They didnt care who, they were having fun with everyone! And every table you went to, to talk to the Lao people, straight away, they would offer you a whisky.... I think its rude to knock back a drink offer too, so I couldnt say no!

From here, the next day, we got back on the slow boat and made our way to Luang Prabang. Since Laos has had such a big impact by France in the past, the French have impacted the Culture big time, and you can really tell in Luang Prabang, you see the old French cars, There are alot of signs in French, and best of all, they have great Bagets....... Bread is definatly one thing I miss since I have left Australia! Theres nothing better then a Chicken and Bacon Baget in the morning (or afternoon) for breakfast! In fact I could really go for one now....Damn these blogs!
anyway enough about food! In Luang Prabang, they have the normal Temples you can see.... and its right on the Mekong, but thats not something you really want to swim in! Although one of the best things about Luang Prabang is the waterfalls. I have seen many waterfalls being in this part of the world, but there were different.... and thats what makes them good! rather then one big waterfalls, its a series of waterfalls, with a Lagoon at the base of each one....great for swimming in!

The next few days were spent in bed, my 2 room mates, and myself all came down with something, and we had to put off our bus ride to go to the next town.... after MANY runs to the bathroom, we all decided to bite the bullet when we were feeling a bit better, and we headed to Vang Vieng.

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