We arrived in Luang Prabang from Vang Vieng and it was like a breath of fresh air, the town is so nice, lots of colonial French architecture, a river on both sides and loads of really nice restaurants and coffee shops.

There are over 30 temples in Luang Prabang and we saw a grand total of zero, when we said a few blogs earlier we were templed out we weren't exaggerating, we're boycotting them everywhere we go.

We rented bicycles for the day and just cruised around the river and town, it was really hot so we didn't go that far but some of the views were pretty nice.

In the evening the main street becomes pedestrianised and a huge market is set up. Generally we don't like the markets as neither of us like shopping and they're often really pushy and don't let you just look at your own pace. This market was completely different, it was so laid back and no one bothered you so it was actually quite nice to check it out

Also in the evening a long alley way becomes full of street food vendors, they all did a buffet with an all you can fit in a big bowl for just over a £1. Cassons's eyes lit up when he saw this but we'd already ate so we planned to go there the following night. Imagine his disappointment when we went back and he realised it was all vegetarian! Needless to say we didn't eat there.

One afternoon we crossed a rickety old bridge on our bikes to go to the other side of the river, this side was more local people than tourists so it was really quiet. Or it was until we cycled past some dogs and they came after us barking and growling, from behind I heard Casson shout "pedal faster" I swear steam was coming off my wheels!

Next stop back to Vietnam

General points

1) I'm a proper local now, I have Pho (noodle soup with either pork or beef) for breakfast everyday and lace it with chillies. For a while now we've been on the search for the ultimate pho and we think we found it here. I say we as whilst Casson has eggs or a sandwich for breakfast he still manages to polish off a quarter of my soup every day.