The bus journey from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang was long, finally leaving at Midday we made our way North through the mountain villages along a paved but very winding road. The journey took just 7 hours but we were travelling on a fairly new bus so it was pretty comfortable.

We arrived at the bus station about 1km south of the town of Luang Prabang and chaos insued, with Tuk Tuk drivers rushing to get our business and demanding over inflated rates to take us somewhere close to our destination! We paired up with some other backpackers and agreed a price to get us close to the night market, which as it turned out was only a very short walk to our guest house.

The night market was in full swing with local people selling all their wares anything from pillows, blankets, shoes, silver and artwork and we were really pleased to find our guesthouse was right in the heart of it all. After a quick wash and change of clothes we headed out to explore the market and get some food. We found a side street packed with backpackers and for £1 we ate like kings!

5.30am we woke to the sound of chatting and realised that the food market sets up everyday outside our accomodation, so we dresssed quickly and headed out to see what we could find. The market had everything you could ever wish for, with women lined along both sides of the street selling fresh meat, fish, live chickens in baskets fruit and veg, huge baskets of chillies, garlic, limes and herbs which could be smelt for miles. Not like our little farmers market in the Orchards! We also witnessed the giving of Alms which is where local people make food offerings to passing Monks which was very special indeed.

We didn't have long until we were being collected for our day trip to the Elephant Village, an Eco resort which cares for domesticated elephants whilst supporting the local villages through employment and continued traditional farming.

Greated by Vince our local guide for the day a really nice young bloke from the North of Lao who is training to be a tour guide with the resort he explained our itinerary for day. After a short journey to the village the first sight was to be greated by half a dozen elephants all having their breakfast at their feeding station. Before long we were learning how to be a Mahut (elephant trainer). So after learning some of the commands it wasn't long before we were straddling the head of an elephant for the first time! I'm not sure of your aware of elephants but they are massive and feel twice as big when you riding them bear back on their necks!

After that we took an hour long ride through the river and village and then it was time for lunch, elephants first then us! After lunch we took our elephants down to the river for a well earned bath! All the elephants had very different personalities and ours were quite well behaved but one young British girl had a rather playful elephant and decided it wanted more of a swim than a bath and she went under the water with the elephant only to emerge shortly after soaking! It was a day neither of us will forget in a hurry.

Through some firends we found out about a Lao charity which supports the education of young Lao children in rural villages. A boat stocked full of books and school equipment travels up the Mekong and delivers books and school uniforms to the poorer communtities. Laos is a very poor country and most children have to walk at least 10km just get to school and thats normally before they have already done a mornings work! Tourists can purchase books and equipment from as little as $2. So with that in mind we made a donation and picked out a number of books and packs of crayons to help support the project.

Laos is a beautiful country, the people their culture and the countryside we just wish we had more time so that we could really immerse oursevles in Laos.