Again....sorry for the delay - we've been busy relaxing ;-)

Laos was beautiful and we had a lovely time there. We stayed in a really nice guesthouse recommended to us by Emma and Neil, a couple that we travelled with in China. When we arrived we spent our time wandering around the town and along the Mekong River where we had a few nibbles and beers to settle ourselves in to our new surroundings! Any excuse I know but it's all so cheap!

We looked into some of the trips and activities available in the area and did some research about the elephant sanctuaries to make sure if we were going to pay to visit the elephants then it was all for a good cause and the elephants were kept there for the right reasons and treated properly. We decided to go and see the elephants with one privately owned elephant camp approved by the Laos government and operated by International specialists and volunteers who focus on protection and rehabilitation of elephants in Laos. We were also very lucky that the 'Elephant Village' was in a stunning setting on the side of the river surrounded by mountains and countryside. We opted to do the one-day mahout training course so that we could learn a bit about the elephants and how they are trained and looked after so it wasn't just an elephant ride.

The day was very relaxed and the elephants were lovely! The guide told us all about the 'Elephant Village' saving the elephants from the logging industry where they are made to work really long hours and treated really poorly - some were even given ecstasy to make them work more efficiently....horrid! Anyway, after the background we started by feeding the elephants and getting to know them and then had our crash course in mahout commands to guide the elephant when riding it. Next it was time to get on and put the commands into action....Dave volunteered me to go first so I followed instructions and very elegantly clambered on with the help from one of the men who push my bottom to give me a boost! Tee hee! Anyway, once I was on, as you can imagine all of the Laos commands disappeared from my head as I gripped on with my knees, concentrating on not falling off! I made it around the little hut though and slowly got the hang of the commands and the confidence to say them loudly so the elephant could understand me. I was very pleased with myself and managed to slide down the elephant with a little bit of help getting my left leg over and down with me! They really are huge animals! Dave decided that he wasn't going to have a go because he didn't like the elephant's hair and thought they were smelly! Silly Billy!

During the day we also had a seat ride together and I got to ride on the elephant's neck again while the mahout took pictures for us and then towards the end of the day I took the elephant for a bath in the river - I had a fab time getting to know the elephant and her mahout!

We explored the area around Luang Prabang on a moped and experienced some interesting 'roads'! We visited a lush waterfall though where Dave decided to 'off road' it and this resulted in hiking through bushes to the top of the waterfall....he even got a leech stuck on his toe! Luckily he noticed it and pulled it off straight away! We also got to see some remote villages including a well known pineapple village where we saw loads and loads of pineapples being sold on the side of the roads.

The town itself was really pretty with lots of beautiful temples and monks wandering around the streets. The buildings clearly had a French influence which added to the interesting streets, restaurants and guesthouses. We found a really nice bakery and I fell in love with their chocolate croissants and Dave, their cinnamon swirls so that was our breakfast sorted for the week! Yum, yum....naughty but nice!

The night market was also impressive with lots of handmade bits and bobs to look at and street food to sample. We found some really cool slippers and couldn't resist so we have squashed them into our rucksacks! All very cheap of course as our bartering skills came in handy!

All in all, a very interesting and beautiful place to visit and once again we wished that we could have stayed longer and seen more of Laos. Nevermind.....it was time to move on again.....

Not long now - we'll see you all very soon!

Lots of love and hugs, Mr and Mrs Turner! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx