The slow boat up the Mekong River in Laos was beautiful. SLOW but very beautiful. It took us two days to reach Luang Prabang after a stop off in a tiny village called Pak Beng. Everything was powered by generators so it was lights out and off to bed at 9pm!

Laos is a very mountanous country so the scenery along the river was stunning. There was huge mountains on either side of us with really dramatic cliff faces and fast flowing rivers. Luang Prabang was a sleepy village in the north of Laos tucked away on a mountain side. It was a very small place with quaint architecture and wooden chalets.The population of Laos is 6 million, the same as the population of Bangkok!! All of the villages and towns were very small and it was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of bigger cities for a while. Due to time constraints we were only in Luang Prabang for one day and one night so we didn't get to see much there. They have a national curfew of 11pm (enforced by law) so we caught up on some well deserved slepe before taking a bus further south to Vang Vieng.

Vang Vieng was a bigger place which is famous for the fast flowing Nam Song river. We hired an inner tube each and drifted down the river stopping off at several of the makeshift bars and resteraunts along the way. From the launch point to the place where you take the tube back it takes 2.5 hours to travel on the water. It was such an amazing experience. We met so many people and really enjoyed all the zip lines and slides the bars had made above the water.

We stayed in Vang Vieng for 4 nights before moving on the country's capital where we unfortunatly only had one day to see the sights. It was very small considering it was a capital city. Laos is generally unspoiled by tourists because it is a much less travelled asian country. It is land locked between Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and China so there are no beaches but the mountains, rivers and waterfalls were enough to evoke tears...

From Vientiene we took an overnight train to Bangkok and then followed on with a bus straight to Koh Pa Ngan for the full moon party. We arrived 5 nights before the party and the island was deserted.It was brillian,. We had a wide stretch of gorgeous white sand and crystal clear water pretty much all to ourelves. After a couple of days the crowds began to arrive and we met up with lots of people we had met along the way. Koh Pa Ngan from that point on was one giant party! The full moon party itself was a crazy experience. There were so many people there from all over the world and sights you had to see to really believe!!

After Koh Pa Ngan we took a ferry to the little island of Koh Tao. It was just what we needed to wind down and chill out after a hectic week. From there we moved to Koh Samui where we are now. Its probably themost commercial thai island but we have decided to stay here because we are metting Matt and Camilla when they arrive to spend the new year with us on the 28th. We have found some nice accomodation to spend christmas in and have even booked ourselves in for a traditional turkey dinner at a bar on the beach! It is very difficult to comprehend that its christmas when we're sunbathing one day then snorkelling another. We can't make the usual connection to christmas because there is no ice, no thick wooly jumpers and no mince pies...

We miss home a lot at the moment because of the time of year but wouldn't swap this experience for anything in the world. So to ALL of our family and friends we can't be with this year we wish you a

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx