Hello there everyone,

Well we have just finished out travels through Laos P.D.R (which as one local told us stands for 'please don't rush'!!), so now its time for a quick update. We took a short flight from a very busy andhectic Hanoi to Vientiane. The Laos capital could not be more different from Hanoi; when we arrived in the 'city centre' it was deserted, there were hardly any cars or motorbikes and even less people walking around. This we would discover is much like all the villages and towns we would visit in Laos as around 80% of the population live in the countryside!!

Vientiane is charming in its own way, we spent a few days there walking around various temples and stupas and along the riverside,but mostly we ate!! Yes, we soon found that we loved the Laos food,which is varied and very flavoursome and of course cheap! We did have one little problem and that was money, or rather getting it, as none of the cash machines accepted our cards, oopsy!! We were also warned (thanks Col and Kez) that if you couldnt get it in Viantiane, you definitely wouldn't get it in any other town!! Basically we had to hunt around all the banks until we found one that would allow us to take a cash advance and then load ourselves up with US dollars and local Kip for our entire journey through Laos, a bit of a pain, but we managed even though our wallets were stuffed with literally hundreds of thousands of kip (about 50 quid!).

So after a few days mooching around the capital it was time to move on, so we did. We headed north to a place known as Vang Vieng. The scenery there was nothing short of amazing, huge limestone mountains sit alongside the meandering Nam Song river. The town center was comprised mostly of one road with bars on both sides blasting out either karaoke or episodes of friends. It was all a bit too 'costadel sol' for us so we opted to stay out of town in a thatched bungalow set right next to the river, the place was beautiful all for 10 dollars a night and really peaceful!

The first day was spent riding around the outskirts of the town as it's surrounded by little villages and we just took in the day to day life of the locals. We then booked ourselves on a kayaking trip which also included a visit to a coupleof caves. The day started well enough as we paddled down the river through a couple of little rapids, taking in the countryside and then we stopped for a short trek to the first cave, known as the watercave. Now the way this worked was we firstly told to don helmets and head torches, then we were put into individual rubber rings. The idea is that we paddled ourselves along the river into the mouth of the cave and then pulled ourselves along ropes once we got in. Our guide warned us that the water level was high in the cave due to recent rainfall and the current was stronger than normal!

So in we go, its pitchblack and the water was bloody high and the roof of the cave sat a meter or so above our heads and its safe to say that I got a bit of a panic on (its Andy writing this by the way, Soph enjoyed every minuteof it). We were in this claustrophobic cave, pulling ourselves against the current in total darkness, well I was because my head torch fell of and I couldn't get it back on!! Then, after about 60 meters in the rope line stopped and we were told to link our feet together and paddle the rest of the way and to paddle hard as the current could take you away down any number of black passage ways!! Well I was at the end of the queue and don't mind saying that I was crapping my self, I didn't trust the guy who had linked his feet into my tube so I proceeded to grab his ankle leaving me with one hand free to paddle for all I was worth!! All the time this guy was saying things like 'ooooh, just look at the magnificent shapes' and all I could think was 'paddle harder you sod!!'.

I was so relieved when we turned around and started to head back out of this pitch black nightmare, but then our link broke and one half of the group disappeared down one passage way and the other group (me included) sailed down another!! At this point I'm yelling at the guide 'whichway, which way?' but then we fell off our tubes, I slipped and whilst scrambling against the cave wall to get a grip on something solid before the current took me away I managed to punch a fellow tourist in the chops!! Oh my god!! Sufficed to say both passage ways took us all to the same place.…the exit!! I was so relieved to get out of there, Soph wanted to go back in, nutter!!

So after lunch it was back into the kayaks down river where we stopped off at riverside bars for some well deserved Laos beers (50p for a howge bottle!!). The bars were great as they all had huge rope swings, we both loved them and spent hours swinging off them into the river!! It was also great to see those that were a little drunk trying to do back flips and ending up doing belly flops from around 7 meters up, causing those on the side lines to wince and let out an empathetic 'ouch' in unison!! I'm sure their pride was hurt more and anyway their faces were redder than their bellies!! We enjoyed this so much that we hired rubber ring the next day and floated down the river once more to revisit our
favourite bars (and swings).

After a few days relaxing we decided to get back on the road and head further north to a town called Luang Prabang. We were wedged into the worlds smallest minivan for a journey to hell!! The road was made up of nothing but 90 degree left and right turns, going up and down throughout the mountain ranges… for about 6 hours, with the driver insisting on putting the van on the wrong side of the road at every turn!! I lost count of the near misses we had and were relieved when we finally arrived in Luang Prabang. This town is very pretty, beautiful architecture (thanks to the French), little alley ways herea nd there all set between two rivers.

The first day was spent walking around the town taking in some really stunning temples and chatting with a couple of student monks. This town also has its own food specialties, our favourites being the Laos BBQ and the Luang Prabang salad, both are a must try should you ever visit! One day we took another sick inducing ride to some local waterfalls on the outskirts of town. All the tour groups go in the afternoon, so we hired a tuk tuk and went in the morning, which was great as we had the place to ourselves. The water fall is made up of different levels and it plunges into various pools, some of which you can swim in. It was great fun swimming in turquoise water surrounded by lush green vegetation, paradise!!

Once again it was time to move further north, we were aiming to get to a small village called Muang Sing which is located very near to the Chinese border and surrounded by tribal villages. We hopped onto a 'local' bus and proceeded to travel up more twisty turny bouncy roadsfor the next 11 hours!! The bus didn't even take us all the way, it stopped in a small town where we had to sleep for the night. The following morning we were up bright and early to get the next bus to our desired destination. However two things we quickly learned: Firstly there was no bus, only a tuk tuk!! Secondly it only leaves when its full!! So we sat and waited in this little tuktuk whilst it slowly filled up…………to bursting point!! They crammed everyone onto little benches on either side, then they filled up the floor space with people, luggage and chickens! So we were off wedged into the back of this machine for the next two hours, bumping up and down twisting from side to side, quite an experience!!

But we arrived in this tiny town and holed ourselves up in some quaint bungalows on the edge of town. The next couple of days were spent exploring the surrounding villages made up of Akha, Hmong and Yao tribes amongst others. On one occasion we cycled off toward the Chinese border, parked our bikes at a nearby guesthouse and began trekking into the hills. We walked through a couple of lovely villages surrounded by amazing countryside with everyone shouting 'Sabaidee' (hello). We did have a basic map drawn by a local restaurant owner back in town but of course the inevitable happened, we got lost!! We found ourselves in the middle of a field on the side of a sloping mountain, in the pouring rain covered in mud!! We decided to retrace our steps and as we walked back down a narrow pathway surrounded by tall grass we were confronted by five men with shotguns, none of whom looked particularly friendly!! We smiled and said hello and received a few grunts back. Needless to say we quickened up our pace in the opposite direction and didn't look back! It was later we remembered that the northern part of Laos grows a huge amount of Opium, which is guarded at all costs and we may have just walked through a field of the stuff!! Anyhoo nothing came of our little encounter, but for a moment there we were both at risk of filling our pants at the site of blokes with big guns (excuse the punn)!! I still reckon they were just off hunting, but you cant help but wonder!!

So all in all Laos has been quite a little adventure and we absolutely loved the people, culture and amazing scenery (but hated their roads).

We are off to China tomorrow and are really excited, but a wee bit sad as its our last country before heading home!!

Hope all is well back in Blighty and we'll give you an update soon.

Tata for now Andy and Soph