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 nice, not quite the same a Buckingham but i could be quite comfortable there - in the evening i watched a Traditional Dance which was really good - the girls danced so gracefully, their movements were like water!

On Monday morning I took my washing to the laundry, paid my 8000 kip for the kilo and was told by the lady to come back the following evening, so I trot off have a good day visiting some spectacular waterfalls etc...Then I go back to the laundry to collect my washing and guess what...they don't have it! A girl went to and from the house with different bags of washing but none of them were mine, I freaked out! They invited me in to their house to search some more but still no washing could be found! Now I was quite emotional anyway and I tried so hard not to cry so I said that I would go away for 10-15 mins while they looked and asked other people if they had seen them and I would come back - I left there and bam! That was it the tears came! Audrey came back to the hotel and saw me so I explained and she had washing there too so she went down there ready for a fight and was gone for 5-10 mins before she called me in to look again - but still...no clothes. The people there hardly spoke any English so they called someone else in who kept saying to me that I hadn't been there and that I was lying, I must have taken my washing somewhere else so I explained that I had come, I described my clothes etc...And he asked who took the washing from me...a lady I said - so then he pointed to some of the women and said "who, who' I was just thinking! How the f*** should I know??? They all look the bloody same! the longer this went on the more upset I got and the angrier Audrey got - and the people just didn't seem to care, they just kept saying I hadn't gone there and they were actually laughing so in the end I just said fine, my clothes have gone so let me at least have my money back, even though 8000 is worth nothing, maybe 50p if that, I most certainly wasn't going to pay for them to steal/lose my clothes! So eventually they gave me back the money and I went off and cried some more!

I wasn't the fact that my clothes were missing as such, as they weren't expensive or sentimental and could be easily replaced, it was more the annoyance and I just lost all faith in people!

So I was now minus my only pair of trousers...my only proper long sleeve top, a green top which I loved! A pair of socks and the majority of my knickers (I know only have 4 pairs left) but it was ok, I went to the market, bought some trousers and another top and tried to forget about it!

This morning I was sitting outside my hotel with Steph, a big cup of coffee, wearing my new top (which is pink by the way...yup, that's right...I have bought a pink top!) and doing a word search, when two people from the launderette walk up to me....with my bag of washing!!!!! Oh my god, I can not express how happy I was - it had been put to one side and they had missed it so had not got round to washing it yet! They were very apologetic and said that they would have it ready for me by this evening! So my fingers are crossed!

I have some photos to upload but i have been trying to do it for the last hour but the computer keeps crashing - If any of you want me to send you photos by email I will try to do that so just let me know! xxx