We had opted for the VIP bus to from Luang Prabang to Vientiane on the basis that it took 8 hours - although there were varying reports on it taking up to 9 hours. We got to the bus station on time, after an early breakfast and, to our surprise, the bus left on time.It was an old Chinese bus and it seemed a little bit lacking in power. The route took us into the mountains and the bus seemed to be in 1st gear all the time - not getting much above 30km per hour. So...

Today we were off to Nong Khiaw, a town about 4 hours north of Luang Prabang, mainly to see the countryside and do some walking. We had to be up early to get breakfast before setting off in a mini bus. We were one of the last to be picked up so we didn't get good seats. There was an Israeli couple in the front who had been separated from their friends and they insisted on driving all over town to make sure they hadn't been left behind (in fact they were on anothe...

On our first day in Luang Prabang , we had a lay in after 3 early starts we took it easy. We found a delightful French style bakery for breakfast and began the job of sorting out somewhere else to stay as our accommodation was not up to standard. That proved relatively painless and we quickly installed ourselves. We decided to start our sightseeing in Luang Prabang with the former Royal Palace - now a National Museum - unfortunately it was after 11:00 and is was ...

We had to be up at a reasonable time to get the boat down the Mekong - from the Huay Xai (near the Thai border) to Luang Prabang. We were being picked up at 9:00 so it was an 8:00 am breakfast. We left the hotel for the port promptly and arrived to go through passport and ticket checks. Then it was a walk down to the boat. The boat was a long, thin, iron hulled affair with about 20 rows of wooden benches each holding 4 people, plus some seats that looked like the...

We caught up on sleep today so had a leisurely breakfast and on into Chang Mai. We then caught a shared taxi out to Doi Supet a temple about 12km outside of town- along with half of Chang Mai it seemed. The Thais have a 3 day holiday at new year and the temple is a popular spot. It is on a large hill overlooking Chang Mai with a climb of 250 steps up to the main temple. (We discovered later you could catch a funicular to the top). The temple itself would have bee...