Laos

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So we got a 8 hour bus journey up to the border with Laos. We decided to go straight across the border rather than spending a night in Chang Khong. We had to get a boat across the river to The laos side where we got our visas pretty easily apart from Chesty struggling to find his passport photos. We strolled up the road and checked into a guest house run by to scary and crazy laos women. We booked our 2 day slow boat tickets to Luang Prabang for the next day. The next morning we arrived at the boat at 9.30 finding only a handful of people on board. Good we thought, we can spread out and get comfy, but NO come 5 minutes to 11 loads of people rock up and fill the boat completely. That day was the most uncomfortable journey ever. 8 hours sitting next to Chesty on a tiny wooden bench. We arrived at a little village for an overnight stop and stayed in a little guest house with a cracking view of the Mekong river. The next day we goit to the boat early again but managed to get a couple of garden chairs at the back. These turned out to be much more comfortable aaprt from the Monk that thought it was amusing to get in my grill for most of the journey and almost resulting in me throwing him overboard. We arrived at Luang Prabang after another 8 to 9 hours.

Luang prabang turned out to be a beautiful town one main street running parallel to the Mekong on one side and another river on the other side craeting a peninsula. That night we just grabbed some food and went for a beer at the Lao lao Garden, a lovely terraced garden lit by candle light. The next day we strolled round the peninsular and stopped off at a small restaurant on the river. This is where I made one of the biggest mistakes so far. Papya salad is delicious but not when you ask for it to be spicy. i battled my way through, close to tears at times, with Chesty laughing in my face. I was defeated with several mouthfuls to go. we visited a temple on our walk. Later that afternoon we climbed up to the top of the hill to a temple top watch the sunset and see some spectacular views of Luang Prabang, the rivers and the surrounding mountains. That night we met up with Joanna and went for dinner and went to the night market which was very nice. ideal for gifts and women, so we didnt spend too long there.

Our second full day in Luang Prabang saw us visit a massive waterfall with Joanna and some others we had met on the slow boat.We trekked right to the top which was hard work but well worth it. The waterfall was stunning and we spent a few hours swimming here.

The next morning we got up ridiculously early to go to the bus stop and get a bus to Vang Vieng to go tubing for a couple of days. The journey was horrible, bumpy mountain roads. Couldn't sleep and couldn't get comfortable. Another 8 hours or so later we arrived to hopefully meet up with Mickey and Rory form uni. This is where i leave you for now. About to go tubing which is awesome but I will tell you about that soon.

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