So to be honest I had completely no idea that you could have so much fun in life if you don't have to go to work everyday.I am still having a brilliant time.

Had great time going to the Laos house for tea.Had bit of a blessing from the old ladies in the family and they made little kind of friendship bracelets that hey tied on both wrists whilst they chatted blessings.Was quite moving actually.I took a real shone to one of them because she was just lovely, all round and happy with big smiliy eyes- she reminded me of Gran a little.The food was brilliant-tried everything as you would expect but the big surprise was the chilli paste and with garlic and smashed up buffalo skin.None to shabby I can tell you.Was served on riverweed covered in sesame seeds, and I know this all sounds totally gross, it's a delicious kind of chips and dips Laos style.

I hired a bike the next day and went out to explore.Laung Prabang is a small town so you soon find your way.I wanted to track down a massage place that had been recommended to me.It was the Red cross massage, and after I managed to find it I was surprised to see that it looked like it really was something o do with the genuine red cross.You could donate blood there and everything.Much as this was tempting the thing that put me off was imagining Mum's face when I had to explain exactly how I did contract hepatius B, so after weighing it up I decided to not donate and just have a nice massage.

Laos people are very modest and when swimming in the waterfalls you keep on your shorts and T shirt so you don't offend anyone with visible flesh.For this reason I was quite surprised when my masseuse was a man.This wasn't the only thing that surprised me about the massage..

1-Tha man in question was more of a boy at about 19 years old

2-His hands were as rough as sandpaper

3-He used what I can only assume was vics vapour rub for the massage (although 4 days later sometimes I think I can still smell it)

4-There was a bit of a misunderstanding half way through when he was working onm y thigh and asked me if I would like an adventure.Panic was my response imideiatly thinking he thought I was there for another kind of what they call "happy massage" but as the conversation moved on it became clear he was talking about my tattoo.Much hilarity followed as we both looked suitably sheepish and embarrassed.Not much conversation followed after that, but I tipped generously and moved on.

That evening I climed up the scared hill to the temple on the top and watched the sun set.Was lovely and peaceful and felt like one of those lovely moments in time when you are in the place you are meant to be in.

Met some friends for dinner and we went to Korean BBQ which required crossing a bamboo bridge across the Nam Khan river with only a few fairly lights to guide us in the otherwise pitch black.That was good fun, and whipped up much giggling and swearing from us all.Food was good fun as interactive and as always cheap and delicious washed down with a few beer Laos.

Next morning, based on Taylors recommendation I got up at 5am to see the monks walk around the streets collecting food offerings from the locals. The monks are all dressed in Orange and the sun was not up yet so I got some lovely atmosphericphotos.Monks have to eat 1 meal a day and they never eat past midday so they collect their food from local families who get up even earlier to cook it fresh for them that day.After that went down to morning market, and saw BBQ rat, bundles of dead songbirds, frogs etc.Lovely fruit and veg too though- got some for the bus from Laung Prabang to Vieng Vien later.

The bus journey was very long and all hairpin bends as you need to get over the mountains to the next big town.The scenery was brilliant - too good to sleep thought, but better than that was the people living in tiny hill tribe villages that the road cuts through.They seem to live their lives in front of their houses, they do everything there, wash themselves, cook their food, play with their kids, fix their motorbikes, everything.This is brilliant because it means that you get to see so much of life as you go past.

At one village we saw a load of young people(about 12-15) all girls in traditional dress.As we went a bit further on we saw them standing in a group, girls on one side and boys (im informed ) from another village on the other.The were throwing a ball to each other, I looked like the y were just playing catch.We stopped to talk to them and find out what was going on and it transpired that its part of the Hmong new year celebrations.From 4th Jan - 28th Jan they meet up and throw a ball together for an hour or so each day.If you like the boy you catch his ball and if you don't you don't bother.If you find someone you like, you have your dates matched by the fortune teller and if they fit well you can get permission, kill a buffalo and bob's your uncle you are married.Looked quite sensible to me although hits kind of like dating, but with the added complication of having to be able to catch, so maybe its best I'm not from Laos.Was a lovely thing to have seen.

I arrived in Vien Veng and was disappointed - the town looks like a bit of a dump to be honest.Nothing really there just all bars playing family guy and friends on a loop.I got to the guest house and it was on the riverside.This is a different story because the river is beautiful.Next afternoon I went Tubing with my friends Helen and Sky.Tubing involves a massive innertube from a tractor tire (sic), and sitting in a river drifting along and stopping at the rowdy collection of riverside bars for a beer on the way.You buy these waterproof pouches to put your money and cameras in.Annoyingly Sky's broke and before the first bar she had to bail out to dry things off on the side. We met up with some other friends that had been Kayaking and they switched to tubing with us from that point which means there were 5 of us drifting slowing down the river chatting away and putting the world to rights.

Lots of people looked like they were drinking like there was no tomorrow but I think we managed to find a very happy medium in the middle of stopping around every 3rd bar.The bars have people throwing lines out to you so when you want to stop you just catch one and get pulled in like you were a fish on a line.Anyway this was very good fun and you get to see braver/drunker people jumping off rope swings and waterslides.Also ran into a group of Korean kayakers who were hilarious- they were so bad, we saw I pair capsize twice - the river is so slow at this time of year it should almost be impossible .At one point the same two were sat facing each other instead of looking the same way - this really makes kayaking difficult, but was hilarious to watch.

It takes about 5-6 hours to do the whole stretch of river.When we got out, there were 2 beautiful little girls playing in the water.They were all over me just wanting to play with the tube.I have never seen anyone have so much fun and be so excited at being allowed to play with an inflatable tube.They really were lovely. And I managed to get a couple of photos of them splashing about with big cheesy grins.

Enough for now - thanks for all the messages, nice hearing from you all.I am having an amazing time , and I hope you are all well and good.Sending lots of love.xxxx