After leaving Luang Prabang, we headed along the very uncomfortable roads towards the Vietnamese border. The roads were paved in some areas and were no more than gravel in others, where rains and flooding had eaten them away. We arrived at Nong Khiaw in the afternoon and stayed in a basic hostel overlooking the river with limestone peaks as a backdrop. It was great to see the kids enjoying the water, using crude bamboo rafts as floats. In the evening, Gen and I headed into the main town and across the 200m stone bridge to a renowned Indian restaurant. The food was pretty good.

In the morning, we caught a boat up the river to the remote village of Muang Ngoi Nuea. It is accessible only by boat. It had a sleepy feel and consisted of one main street with cafes, hostels and a monestary. A few of the hostels had restaurant areas which backed onto the river.
It was here that we befriended the lovely Sophie Gajawitz. During the afternoon a storm sprung out of nowhere, catching us all completely off guard. Cushions and lampshades were thrown about, soon accompanied by chairs and other debris. The owner of next door's hostel clung onto the tree which was at the centre of the restaurant as it appeared that it was going to bring the whole decked area down with it! We all huddled into the centre of our bar area for shelter. Very strange.
During the next day we walked with Sophie, Sky and Matthew to a nearby village where we saw life being lived in a fashion that had probably altered little over the last few centuries. Houses consisted of wood and were basic in design. The people there relied on farming with chickens running about the streets. We saw some ladies spinning thread using wooden machines and looms.
The following day we took another boat up to the quickly modernizing town of Muang Khua, which was having large concrete bridges being constructed to connect roads at 2 different points on its banks; this will undoubtedly lead to the unemployment of the men and women working the punt-like ferries. We stayed in a basic and slightly grubby hostel with Sophie and woke at 4 to catch the ferry across to the bus stop. The bus finally arrived shortly after 6 and took us first through small villages, then through the hills into nomansland between Laos and Vietnam. The border crossing was surprisingly straightforward and the Vietnamese officials both courteous and helpful. At the town of Den Bien Phu, just inside Vietnam, we finally gave our backsides a rest!
We Sat in a cafe with Sophie in the afternoon before heading into the town for food later on. The Vietnamese dishes we ordered were incredible, most notably, the beef and lemongrass. This town also seemed to mark the end of the line for the incredible sticky rice that I had enjoyed every day through Laos. Damn!