The journey to Loas was long and tiresome, first we took a mini bus from Chiang Mai in Thailand to Chiang Kong in Thailand which took 5.5 hours, when we got there it was freezing all throughout the night so come the morning i had developed a cold! the next morning we went to the boarder crossing and took a speed boat across to Houayxai in Laos, but then got on a slow boat to Pakbeng which took 7 hours! it was so cramped and we were sitting on what i an only describe as a church bench the whole way, luckily at the boat port they had advised that we bought a pillow to sit on! that came in very handy! it was very cramped on the boat and there was hardly room to move! but it was an experience! we did a similar journey the next day from Pakbeng to Louang Phabang (or Luang Prabang as it is also known) but that was about 7.5hours long! we sat at the very back of the boat on the floor this time which was much better as we could stand up, stretch out, play cards etc!

We have been in Loang Phabang for 2 nights now and it is beautiful, but pretty cold still, i should have packed a jumper! but hopefully it will get warmer the further south we go. I think this is the nicest place i have been so far, it is so much more relaxed and peaceful.

Yesterday we went for a walk around the city, I wanted a bit of alone time so i went to the Royal Palace Museum which was lovely, not as grand as Buckingham im sure but it was still very nice, afterwards i went for an Oil Massage which was far from relaxing at the time, they really push you to the limit and some times it was quite uncomfortable but in general it was good, not sure if i would have another one but im looking forward to trying a different style next time (i think im becoming addicted to massage now) but for 36,000 kip which is about 2-3 pounds, i can afford to!

Last night i went to watch a traditional Laos Dance show which was interesting, im sure there was a story line but i couldnt work out what it was but it was still impressive to watch, the girls were so graceful and beautiful , their movements were like water! Before the dance began some old Lao women came around and tied some white string around each of our wrists while chanting something, i think this was for good louck and to warn off any bad spirits so i will keep mine on as i thought that was really nice!

Im not too sure what we will do today, we were going to visit a waterfall but the weather isnt so good at the moment, it started to rain a little while we were having breakfast so we will have to see how the rest of the day turns out!

The coffee here is amazing by the way, its so so so nice! i had two cups this morning and i could do with another cup now thinking about it!

I will upload some more photos when i have the patience to do it (it takes so long) and i dont know how to rotate them on here which is a shame as you cant save them on to these computers to rotate them first! il figure something out im sure!

Hope you are all well and i will write again soon when i have something more interesting so report!

xxx