After the Border crossing we all got ushered to a shop where we waited for our bus to the slow boat, now one thing to remember is that in Asia a lot of people lie to you or try and scam you. For example the guy in the shop made us all sign up for accommodation there as he said there aren't many and as the boat was full we would find it hard to get somewhere. He also told us they don't serve any food or drink on the boat at all so we had to buy it in his shop. Luckily none of us believed this one so we brought our water but waited to see what the boat offered, however we did all sign up to the accommodation which was alright, well clean at least with a decent fan. I think the slow boat is called the slow boat because of how long you hang around waiting to get on it. Our group has got really friendly though so it's pretty cool just chilling out and chatting.

The slow boat was actually really comfy it has old bus seats that recline as the seats and you get a nice breeze from the window, here is a tip though; try to sit near the front as the engine is so loud. The journey was about 7 hours in total on the first day, the views are amazing though and it's really peaceful. A lot better than travelling by bus or plane. Plus we had our MP3 player and Kindles to keep us occupied. I was sat by the window and ended up getting 'boat arm' it was so red. We also managed to get a Tom Yam pot noodle which was amazing and super spicy.

When we pulled up in Pak Beng you basically had to scramble up a cliff face with your bag, it was hilarious and pretty dangerous. The locals made it look so easy though. We then got taken on the back of a pickup truck to our accommodation. Now I'm talking 12 of us on the back of this truck with luggage. They love their health & safety over here. The accommodation was fine, a lot cleaner than the night before and less bugs. In Pak Beng there is literally nothing, like 3 restaurants and 1 bar. We bumped into Sarah and Chloe and went for dinner with them across the road. They all went veggie for the night but I asked for fried noodles with chicken, on the menu it just said 'meat' but I assumed you could just choose your meat. Apparently not. What came out was definitely not chicken or any meat I have ever seen. I tried to convince myself it was bacon, but everyone tried a bit and said it was definitely not bacon. So, basically if something says 'meat' it's a mystery meat which is most likely rat as that is what we saw a lot of in Pak Beng. So don't eat it.

In the morning it was back on the boat for another 7 hours journey to Luang Prabang. Today it was beautifully sunny which made the scenery look stunning. It is all just mountains and jungle, it really does take your breath away, we saw lots of kids playing in the river as well and cows and goats by the side. Matt sat by the window today but luckily I still managed to get 'boat arm' on the other side so I'm evened up now. We pulled up at Luang Prabang about 5.30pm and with Sarah & Chloe and an ozzie couple we decided to go and find a guesthouse we had seen on Hostel World. We got there and it looked lovely but unfortunately it was fully booked. So we kept walking until we found some more. Now Laos is not cheap, it's on a par with Thailand which isn't expensive but we were quite surprised as we were expecting it to be cheaper. A lot of the rooms were about £10 a night; we finally found one which is 60,000 kip a night (about £5) for the two of us. It's a fan room, but its clean and a lot better accommodation than the last two places. Just as we had got in our rooms the thunderstorm began. It was epic, the thunder, lightning and torrential rain went on for about 5 hours. We got soaked going out for dinner, however we did find this lush place around the corner called Delilah's' place. We ate with Sarah and Chloe, we had some amazing local food but it did cost about £3 each which is a lot in traveller's term. As the rain had no plan on stopping and the night market had packed up we decided to have an early night.

We will update you soon with more on Luanag Prabang, from our first impressions though I think we are going to love it.

Modes of Transport so far - 2 planes, 1 Taxi, 4 Tuk Tuks, 1 VIP Bus, 2 shared taxis, 1 minivan, 1 speed boat, 1 slow boat, 1 pickup truck

Countries Visited - Thailand, Laos

Miles Travelled - 7,453