We arrived in Luang Probang after what can only be described as a whackey races drive through the mountains from Vang Vieng. Once again a tiny little mini bus so was very uncomfortable. The views however where just 'beautifull' as james describes them. We have never seen so much greenery and so many hills. Millage wise its not very far but the road that we travelled on was just insane so it took 6 hours. Half way through James saw a huge cockroach right by his foot so was bouncing round the mini bus like a silver back gorilla, it was once again very entertaining. He tried to get a Lao guy sitting in front of him to kill it but he just started throwing up out the window so we eneded up pulling up to let it out. On one of the stops we pulled up at a little restuarant/shop to be horrified at them selling bear whiskey. This consists of a small bear in very big jar soaking in whiskey, even better with us staring in pure amazement, horror and shock she actualy thought we wanted to buy it!! CRAZY LADY!!

We shared a taxi with 4 of the boys on the mini bus to a B&B Guest house which again was really nice.

Luang Probang is such a pretty place, it is surrounded by mountains and the Mekong river and is labelled a UNESCO world hertitage site. It has a very French feel to it and all the buildings resemble French style villas.

That night we headed to the street markets. They looked so nice all lit iup with lanters. Its such a shame we dont have enough room to buy things, there were so many really nice things to buy. Was not keen on the market as it was all under gazebos so spent the entire time almost walkin onhis knees. Travelling really isnt for tall people. We walked down to the river front for tea but made a bad choice, as we got in it got so busy, we were about to get up and leave but she brought out the food. As she put James's red curry down I noticed 2 huge dead ants floating. We were both so annoyed by the time we left.

The next day we got up early and went to a cafe called Joma, it was pretty much like starbucks and we both had coffee and bagels. The best breakfast we had so far. All fulled up we set of up the 100mtr mountain to see the temple on top. The temple was disapointing but the views were worth the climb. You could see the whole of the city, the river the mountains and the temples in the hills. From here we went on a walk all around the city, stopping off at temples on the way.

That night we headed back to the markets in searc of the street food. It was the best street food we have had. You paid 10,000 Kip (about 80p) and was given a plate to fill with wat ever you wanted. So many different types of rice, noodles and vegetables. The best was the BBQ chicken, it was a huge chicken breast on a skewer was so tasty. We went out for a few cocktails but after drinking Lao Lao, a local spirit thats 50% followed by a malaria tablet when I got in the room made me really sick so we had to miss out the bowling alley. In Laos there is a curfew at 11.30 am so if you want to stay out later everyone go's to the bowling alley.

We found out a few interesting facts about Laos aswell. One of the bars had loads of q&a sheets in the menu so here are a few.....

* When you order food it all comes out at different times, this is because it is very offesnsive to pull a meal infront of you and eat to yourself. In Laos there is no such word as mine or yours the word is 'ours' and here is no such thing as an individual person. The food is meant to be shared amoung everyone you are with. Even if sitting on there own the food will be in the middle of the table for others to join.

*Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world and the only industry in Laos is tourism. Because of the land, it is impossible to be able to grow or maufacture goods.

The next day we were leaving for Vietnam so went back to the same cafe and chilled out there for a few hours before we headed to the Airport with the boys. We wereb oth a bit nervous about going to the airport as we had totally buggard up our visa. With us being so laid back nd doing everything literally at the last minute we didnt even know that we had to apply for the vietnam visa before hand. As it was 5pm on a Friday we had to pay and extra $42 for urgent visa. We were'nt really too bothered as we were just happy we had'nt turne up to our flight with no visa at all. After we sent the form off online we recieved an email saying that because it was a weekend we would have to pay $188 when we arrived in the airport for some unknown reason. Straight away we had an inclin it was a con. When we got the airport in Laos we showed them everything we had and had no problems what so all. I was petrifeid though as we pulled upto the plane, a tiny little thing with propelers but any way yey were going to Vietnam!!