Laos has been nothing short of amazing already. We crossed the border at sunset and travelled by overnight bus to Luang Prabang and arrived at sunrise. Eventually managed to find a cheap & cheerful guesthouse, dropped our bags off then headed out for some local coffee which is real strong and a brekkie baguette. Had a bit of a chill as weary from the previous day/night's travels and then headed into the centre of Luang Prabang and walked past all the Wat's and down to the Mekong river. What I love about the place already is its style, all the buildings are no more than two stories high and its tranquility, hardly any traffic about, lush. In the afternoon headed up to the That Put Si at the top of the hill to watch a misty yet magical sunset (if it wasn't for all the bloody loud tourists up there!!). In the evening we all rendez-voused at the night market, grabbed something to eat and headed to a cool riverside pub called Utopia. Kurfew here is real early, I think around 11pm ish so we headed to a bowling alley out of town as only place to carry on drinking, had a real blast.

Friday woke up at an unearthly hour still rough as chuff to go to the Kuang Si waterfalls. It was well worth the hassle however, simply stunning falls. We arrived earlier than the maddening crowds and had the swimming part of the falls to ourselves, well lush. Later on in the day climbed further up and right upto the point where the main bit of water falls, bit dangerous but well worth it for the amazing views both above and below.

Saturday headed over to Vang Vieng during the day, saw some great scenic views including one of the bus stop off points. Got to Vang Vieng around 6pm which was when the tubing finishes so just headed around town, it seemed pretty dead at that point but think everyone was still smashed further up the river. Had some traditional Lao food called Laap which is meat based but got food poisoning from it the next day which meant couldn't go on organised trekking trip on Sunday, gutted but newt can do. Met up with good OZ friend Ben travelled Burma with later and caught up which was cool, surprising in just a couple of weeks how many stories both had to share!!

Monday was all about the tubing without tubing! Didn't end up hiring one as the bars are that close together and your hardly on the bloody thing plus more money for buckets. We were hammered by the third bar, just about remember jumping into the water and some cool drum & bass beats at one point. Ironically sat on a tube on top of a tuk tuk on the ride back to town.. Ended up at the bucket bar at night for the free buckets which was the carry on afterparty to the tubing.

Woke up in the morning with drawstring to swimshorts round my head.. rough as chuff and far far too early thanks to the bloody cockerels in the guesthouse garden. Had lots of scars, bruises & bumps goodness knows how got them. Had a traditional Korean breakfast with my roommate Kim which was both healthy & filling, ready for round 2 du tubing. Love Family Guy & Friends on constant repeat in the restaurants here. Round 2 of tubing was Lionel Messi, ended up covered in paint all over.. wondered why people were laughing then took a picture of my face and saw the evidence! Bumped into Israeli guy that was in the beach bungalow next to us in Burma, small world once again!

Couldn't sleep so went outside to the garden of the guesthouse for a chill and witnessed a wonderful dawn. Wednesday took it easy, instead of doing round 3 of tubing went to Blue Lagoon which was rather beautiful. Our guesthouse owner Bob took us to his volunteering project also which was real interesting to see. Went to a local market which was just round the corner but didn't have a clue! Had last supper with friends then headed to bars with free buckets. Love the fact can get drunk for free.. Happy drunk days!!

It was a trek and a half from Vang Vieng to the 4,000 Islands involving 3 buses & as many tuktuks, 1 sleeper bus & boat with a couple of hours in the capital Vientiane sandwiched inbetween. So glad was on the sleeper bus with Korean Kim, the 'double beds' were more like single beds but 2 people had to share so it was little & large spooning it up fer the night! Its taken just under 24 hours to get here but well worth it, beach hut on the Mekong = bliss!

The next couple of days morphed into chilling by the river and 'beach' and watching the sunset from the restaurant next to our huts. Bliss. We went on a trip to see the dolphins and saw a couple of freshwater ones then saw the big waterfall at the end of the MEkong River. Went to beach bonfire at night and bumped into a couple of Italians from my hometown Bari who didn't believe I was Italian haha.. Was real sad to say goodbye to loco/laidback Laos, had a great few fun filled bucket fueled weeks. The bus journey to Cambodia was hell however, overbooked but luckily managed to get a seat but once stopped at service station I gave up my seat but my ass soon suffered. The final bus to Siem Reap was pure torture, absolutely bumpy as hell and lucky not to have cracked my head open on the window..