Hey Right, its been a while, or at least it feels that way....we are now in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Its VERY laid back here - and not always in a good way ....although we are getting used to it and you just have to go with the flow

We left Pai on 3rd january and travelled through the night to Chiang Khong - finally arriving there at 4/5am - there was a girl on our bus that kept throwing up evert 10 minutes !! (She actually ended up going to the hospital the following morning, but its ok we saw her yesterday trekking at the wateralls so she must have recovered)....

When we got to Chiang Khong we had 2 hours sleep then got woken up again, transported to the border, had a boat ride across to Laos, then at 10.30am got onto another boat (the Slow Boat) that was 2 hours late in setting off, we then had a 7 hour boat trip to Pak Beng!

'citing!!

But the baot trip was pretty cool in the end as we got talking to loads of people from all over the world (England, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland...)

When we arrived in Pak Beng Dom and I went out for some food with a couple of guys named Nick and Marcus. Our food took FOREVER to come and when it finally did it wasnt very nice!! Dom, Nick and Marcus all ordered a Laos dish (sorry i cant remember the name ) and asked for it to be made slightly less spicy than usual. We think he must have misheard, as it was very spicy , maybe he thought we askd for extra spice?

Nick and Marcus managed to eat theirs but poor Dom didnt manage it and tried to fill up on the Sticky Rice (which was far too overcooked!!) later on the chef came out to apologise about the food !

When we asked for the bill the waiter said, 'yes just one moment', walked across the road, sat down at a table with the chef and two small children and began eating his tea!!! We all couldnt beleive our eyes and just started laughing... laid back is an understatement

We moved onto another bar and managed to squeeze in one last drink before we had to leave because of the cerfew ( and all the lights get turned off at 10pm!!)

The next day we had to be back on the Slow Boat for 9am. Another EIGHT hours ahead of us

We finally got to Luang Prabang and booked into a really nice Guesthouse called Jaliyas. Its costing us 80,000 kip per night !!!! Expensive? No its actually only about 7pounds.... the currency here is confusing!!

But we're slowly learning to speak the odd Laos word.... Sabaidee is Hello, Khawp Jai is thank you!! Impressed?

Anyway, we found a really good bar called Laos Laos Garden. Its gorgeous ! Its a massive garden filled with tables and chairs and there are random camp fires and music playing....hard to explain but its very cool

We met up with the people we met on the boat. But at 11.30pm they have to close because cerfew is at 12am. They gave out plastic cups so that we could take our drinks with us

When we left, Nick started chatting to a Tuk tuk driver and he said there was a nightclub that was open until 2am! We didnt know whether to beleive him but 8 of us jumped on the back and hoped for the best ! It was only a 10minute drive, but he was right, there was a nightclub ! We walked in and it was ace !! Music was pumping, it was packed, massive dance floor..........

We were the only Falangs (foreigners) in there

We got some drinks, started chatting and dancing, and then 30minutes later the lights came on!!! they closed at 1am, not 2. Except it was only 12.15...they put on the most cheesy music and everyone in the club (all the locals at least) was singing along !!! Very very strange hehe and then they all slowly left by about 12.30.....

When me and Dom got back to our hotel at about 1.15am (cerfew is at 12) our hotel was locked up!! We couldnt get in!!! We started panicking, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, when we heard someone say 'Sabaidee?' there was a guy camping out under a mosquito net inside the reception area! He didnt seem too happy to have to let us in, but dom gave him a tip and that seemed to cheer him up!

Yesterday we went to see a Waterfall. It was gorgeous ! Clear blue water, but without the fish nibbling at your feet this time. And there was a bear sanctuary . There used to be a Tiger Sanctuary too but last year the tiger passed away

We are leaving tomorrow and heading down to Vang Vieng to do some famous tubing....................... xxxx