Luang Prabang might not look too far from Chiang Mai on a map, but the journey is pretty exhausting. We travelled for a day to the Thai side of the border at Chiang Khong, before crossing over to Huay Xia. There wasn't much to do here except get munched, pretend you speak French, and sleep. The border is conveniently marked by the River Mekong, and makes for a nice 5 minute ferry crossing. It's also quite a funny border - you can't help but feel it's the equivalent of a door in the middle of a field, where entry through the door costs $30 and a careful swerve round the outside is free. That is, until three weeks later when the Lao authorities find you, give you a gentle warning, and send you off chuckling with a fair penalty (and your hands in a carrier bag). From Huay Xia, we set off on a two day boat trip down the Mekong to Luang Prabang, with an overnight stop in Pak Beng. This might seem extreme, but the only alternative is a speedboat taking 5 hours - crash helmets and life insurance provided for the lucky ones. So, we paid our 800 Bhat (about 11 or 12 pounds), and expected luxury in return. Instead we got a wooden bench with enough leg room for any gangly six year old, and the elbows and knees of everyone around us. It was pretty difficult to tell where one bench started and the other ended, but we reckon there was capacity for around 60 extremely well behaved children. However, we were told by the ticket office that 80 people would be on the boat. By the time we set off there was more than 100 of us all cosied up, as the aisle was lined with deckchairs, the cafeteria (a cold box and 2 shelves) had become a deluxe lougning area, and the engine room housed the stragglers. Jenny didn't seem bothered by the elbows and the claustraphobia, but then again she's not got big unruly legs like myself. Anyway, I didn't enjoy the first day down the Mekong at all. What made it worse was that Jenny seemed to think it was great (for a few hours at least), so we kept having stupid arguements along the lines of me saying 'I can't believe how greedy these people are' and Jenny would retort 'Shut up, they're just poor'. They made around 900-1000 pounds from 80 of us for the 2 days. (Not to mention the other 20+ who clambered aboard.) Greedy or poor?: you decide. Kidding on, but 1000 pounds is alot of money in Laos. Anyway, we got to Pak Beng at around dinner time, and Jenny set off for a well deserved Indian dinner whilst I set off to resolve some stomach issues. What a time to get the digeridoos - halfway through a 48 hour journey down one of the biggest rivers in the world. Jenny assures me Pak Beng was a nice wee place. It was a tiny wee community on the banks of the Mekong, but it managed to cram in tens of restaraunts and guesthouses. Beautiful location, but you'd lose you're mind after a day or so. The next morning I crawled onto the boat. It was a different boat this time, and this one somehow managed to be smaller and less comfortable. Overnight some intrepid travelly trekky people had bought tickets for the 2nd leg, and so there now well over a hundred of us, and thos pathetic little benches. The storage room for the bags was now required for seating, and the roof was even used for a while until the boat staff told us it was too dangerous. Eh...good one. Anyway, those who turned up late got the bag room, and probably were more comfortable than anyone else. Plus, they got to hang around with a wee 5 week old poddle which me and Jenny thought was pretty unfair because we miss our pets. Yet, despite this, I really enjoyed the second day. My stomach behaved itself, and this time Jenny was the grumpy one. The scenery and all that jazz was pretty stuning, so we just sat on the side with our feet dragging in the water. The 10 hour second day felt more like nine and a half, so we were quite pleased. will finish later, we're late for the bus.. ..anyway, a boat for two days...what else can I say about the experience that our bottoms can't tell you... Luang Prabang was a stunning little place, gathered round a single street of French colonial architecture and some of the only bookshops in Laos, amongst other things. Anyway, I saw a local guy try to bottle an English woman, who didn't seem half as scared as me or the others sitting around us. But it was still amazing, except for kids following you with machetes through the jungle. The national museum used to be a royal household, but the occupants decided after the revolution and were never seen again. How convenient! We really felt like we were in a People's Republic. Quite a thrill. The prince who had lived there had a really cool art collection from the soviet union, and various other trinkets, amongst which was a model of the mad thing that landed on the moon from the USA. Any chance the soviet art was placed there after the revolution? No chance!; it says nothing about it in the Official History of Laos. Anyway, this place is a total hit. The sunsets were ridiculously nice from ther Phu Si temple and everyone except the bottle wielding maniac were very nice. Nice. love colin x x x