Hiya, me again, ellie wrote one yesterday but it got wiped because we wee in a rubbish internet place, also wiped were all her photos aaargh but a man is sitting here now trying to get them back.... for a small price of course.

Last blog was i think after the trek, so i'll pick up from there. the next day we set off from our hostel in a minibus which was taking us up to Chiang Khong right on the border with Laos. We met a nice irish man called Daire and chatted to him along the way, got to our guest house and hmmmm, they were full so we were shipped down the road. there was a good group of us, about ten or so, all getting the slow boat which is always promising! the next morning we were up dead early, not early enough though as our 'reliable' irish friend told us we were getting picked up half an hour later than we actually were! but we made it and didnt leave anything behind. had some breakfast and were then taxied across the mekong to laos immigration, lots of forms to fill in and then down to the slow boat. when we got there there was a 'guide' who spoke good english supposedly telling us what was going to happen, but he was negative negative negative. he said there were going to be 80 to 100 people on the boat (half it), that it was going to take 18 hourse (12), that we would be paying 800 baht per person in the stopover village (40 baht each!) and more and more. basically he was trying to persuade people to 'upgrade' (pay again) for a minubus which would take 8 hours (14) basically he was full of crap and as you can see from the pictures the slow boat was bloody amazing! we just chilled out on the front deck with speakers and beer and whiskey and met loads of cool people. second day was a smaller boat with less space but still better than a minibus!!

we got to luang prabang pretty knackered and found a lovely guest house, went for dinner as a whole group and then found a fab bar. there is a curfew of 11.30 here which is bizarre, so we only had time for a couple of drinks then headed back to the guest house and chilled out with the guys who work there, had them all shotting whickey was pretty funny. the next day most of the others went to the waterfall but me and ellie decided we would get a massage instead! luuush especially after two days sittin on a wooden bench, and it was about a fiver for an hour. that evening we met up wth everyone and had a few (a lot) of drinks at laos laos garden, the thing to do when it closes is go to the bowling alley... the most surreal thing i have done so far, just a load of european people bowling when they are all reaaly drunk, think it all got pretty lary after we left at 3. didnt feel so hot the next day. still managed to climb the hill in the centre of the old town, which is on a peninsula and really pretty. Laos is much much more chilled out than thailand, and there are more people actually travelling but there were also lots of groups of rich american and french people with guides so i think it is quite an upmarket destination.

after three nights in luang prabang we had heard enough about vang vieng to want to head down there. we arrived today after a 7 hour bus ride and it looks fab, we are going to go tubing tomorrow woohoo! going to test out my waterproof camera..... will let you know how that goes.

missing everyone loads, keep writing us messages!! xxxxxxx