Compared to Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang is a very quiet laid back countryside town. After being able to drink until dawn it was surprising to find that all bars and restaurants had a strict curfue off 11pm. Our three nights here gave us the perfect opportunity to detox and recover from our tubing experience.

On our first evening we went to the nearby night market and browsed the stalls and sampled the very cheap street food. Whilst here we bumped into a Korean guy who we had previously met on the trip through the border into Laos. We arranged to meet the next day and go to the nearby waterfalls.

The next morning we met up with Shin (the Korean) and his French friend (Margot). The four of us got a tuk tuk and set off for the waterfalls. We spent the day walking through a forest alongside rivers and the waterfalls, which were bright blue and flowed into large, clear, deep pools. The colours and surroundings were spectacular and the top waterfall was amazing with water flowing down from high up rocks and plunging into the clear blue pool below. After our long walk we all went for a swim in one of the larger pools, using the rope swings as the quickest and best way in and enjoying the free fish spa from the tiny fish in the water! We finished the day off back at the night market with Shin, Margot and I filling up on noodles....Ben managed to find a sausage buttie and beer:-)

We spent the next day walking around the town, visiting little temples and walking along the riverside. Late afternoon we climbed up one of the larger hills in the centre to watch the sunset over the little village houses on the outskirts of Luang Prabang.

We decided that we would fly to Thailand in order to avoid the border crossing and the 18 hour trip. We booked our flight via Lao airlines and the next day got a tuk tuk to the airport. We checked in and went through passport control with no issues. We then boarded the smallest plane we have ever been on....there was 6 steps up from the ground into the cabin. It felt strange taking off in such a tiny aircraft but the 1 hour flight went smoothly and we even got complementary plane food!!!! :-) We landed in Chiang Mai, Thailand at around 2pm and set off to find our hostel.