So 2nd day in LP and we did pretty much nothing, wandered round, played cards eat at the Scandinavian bakery. The Hostel we're saying at has a free dinner every Saturday so at 6PM we had some really authentic noodles cooked by the owner- if only she could sort out the wildlife in the bathrooms it would be a great hostel!

Tom: Definitely! Damn millipedes and bugs on the wall!

It's quite funny how much of a 'small world' this travelling thing is. We met a German brother and sister on the bus from Hanoi and ran into them again in Vien Chiang. We knew they were heading north and turns out they were staying in the same hostel as us! And just in case it's causing confusion the capital of Laos is Vien Chiang, but because they French got confused by the monosyllabic language they called it Vientiane which sounds kinda similar.

The 3rd Day in LP was far more exciting. We got up early and went to our favourite place for breakfast, a restaurant called Pizza which for £2 makes the closest to full English available in Laos- sausages, bacon, ham, eggs and a fresh baguette. Yum, yum yum.

Then back to hostel where the husband of the lady who runs the place took us to a huge waterfall about 30km out of the town. It was really cool. You could hear the water thundering down as we walked beside the river past various 'little' falls. But then the main fall was about 100m. It's rainy season here so the river was in full flood which mean that a lot of the walk ways were flooded and the main bridge to cross near the falls was well and truly under impassable.

We climbed up one side of the falls. It was a well worn path but still had a distinct feeling of mountaineering rather than leisurely walk. We were accompanied by our German friends and a number of Buddhist monks out on a day trip. (Tom: how i love those monks). At the top we got a full view of the water fall- literally standing at the point where the water goes over the fall with a little wooden fence to stop us going with it!

Tom: A very makeshift fence as well.

We crossed the top of the fall, hopping for underwater ledge to fallen tree branch and at one point just about swimming. It was really exciting. At one point we walked about 25m along the top of the fall- fortunately the water wasn't to deep! But it was still quite scary!

Tom: You should make it more exciting. No facts. So we had to walk along the ridges, where quite a strong current was flowing, a current that would only lead to the END OF THE CLIFF!!! What if i slipped, banged my head, unconscious and flowing down the river with no hope of rescue.

Then Tom and I went for a swim, there were special areas where it was allowed but the currents were still really strong so it was quite exciting! Tom went on a rope swing, it looked like fun but I chickened out- me holding weight on rope = bad times!

Tom: that swing was so cool. I had to climb round a wide tree and hope that I didn't hit the waterfall when a let go.

Then back to the hostel and onto a night bus. It was much more comfortable than the last one which meant we could sleep. Well apart from the times when they had dreadful music on or the times where the English girls decided that midnight was the perfect time to discuss the finer points of chilli! The middle aged French lady give her self cause to excuse her French but they took no heed; slightly ashamed of my countrymen! Oh and the bus broke down, a lot. It took 13 hours rather than 8. Ah well, still better than the last one. And we're taking the proper sleeper bus to Paske!