Today we woke up early as we weren't sure of the bus times for Luang Prabang, we packed our things and showered. By the time we were done it was nearly nine am so we said goodbye to the guesthouse owners and headed back over the bridge and followed the road the two km to the bus station. Steven was feeling pretty peckish as we passed Mrs P and her amazingly cheap food stall but we weren't sure if the bus left at ten am so had to skip the detour. We arrived at the bus station hot and sweaty and requested the times and prices on the Luang Prabang bus, they said a local one would leave at eleven (instead of ten... Lao time) and the mini bus left at one thirty. We were in two minds as a local bus means a songthaew, which is an open backed tuk tuk style bus where you perch on a bench sideways. This is fine but the road to Luang Prabang is bumpy and mostly hair pin bends so would be a bit of a nightmare, it was fifteen thousand kip cheaper though and left earlier so we gambled. We said we would be back at eleven and would buy our tickets on boarding. We took our bags and trekked back down to Mrs P's where we ordered some rice porridge with egg and drank huge volumes of our water.

While waiting for our food a trio of travellers turned up and sat down, the old man who serves (and is the cutest thing ever!!) came out being friendly and asked them to write their order down when they were ready and the male traveller was really abrupt and cut him of saying "yes yes we will write it down" was so rude, the trio then sat and spent the next ten mins laughing loudly at the families attempts at English on the menu such as 'stoam' rice instead if 'steamed' and so on... I found them vile and very rude.

Our food arrived a short time later and was absolutely delicious... The rice porridge was perfect and I love the way they poach the egg within the soup making a delicious tasting egg. We munched it down and couldn't stop commenting on how beautiful and tasty it was... It was so good. Over our breakfast we chatted about Luang Prabang and Sam Nuea (the town near the caves) kept coming up, we both really wanted to go there but the thought if the journey kept putting us off... We decided we would ask at the bus station about buses and see what the situation was and if not then it would be Lunag Prabang... Fate and all that.

After we had finished we settled the bill and took another slow and hot walk back to the bus station where we enquired about buses to Sam Nuea, it turned out there was actually a bus arriving from Luang Prabang at twelve and was a local bus although smaller at only twenty five seats so arrived in eleven hours instead of the usual thirteen. We decided to bite the bullet and book tickets and take our chances on the east side.

Just before twelve the bus turned up and we headed on... It was nice as it was similar seating to a mini bus but a lot more spacious as it had more seats. It was indeed a local bus and we were the only tourists. As usual only the back seats were available so we went and sat down, the seats were relatively spacious and so we relaxed instantly... I had a good feeling. On the back seat we ended up being sat near a guy who had just graduated from college with his diploma in English so he was pretty keen to practice with us. We set off and chatted a little about our jobs and England. He also informed us the bus would take about seven hours to get to Sam Nuea... we didn't believe him but he seemed pretty adamant. Before long we had reached the bridge in town and the bus stopped, it transpired that they were now stopping for a thirty min lunch. We had only just joined the bus so didn't bother climbing off and just sat back and stretched our legs out, after ten minutes or so a tuk tuk pulled up and two young girls climbed out... They had obviously just arrived at the bus station to get the bus and just missed it. The climbed in and asked where the spare seats were so I told them they were scattered around so they would have to wait till the bus filled back up, they found a couple of seats down front instead and made then selves comfortable. After the break was over everyone piled on and there was a small commotion down front until the English speaking chap asked the two girls to move to the back seat as the seats were taken... Back seats are always left for westerners lol. They joined us and we chatted briefly finding out they were from France and travelling for a month around Lao before heading home.

The journey continued with the odd person getting on or off the bus... They must have overbooked with us four as there was four people standing when the bus left from its break. As the day progressed we passed through the most beautiful countryside and it passed quickly as we were constantly in awe at what was outside the window. It was so beautiful as we drove higher and higher up into the mountains and saw plains of rice paddies and lush green countryside. The afternoon was a vivid mixture of bright sunshine and monsoon storms... Was really something and amazing how quickly each one was on you and then passed.

We passed through many villages, which were truly authentic rural Lao with their wooden frames, weaved walls and grass or tin roofs... Each on on stilts and each with the obligatory satellite dish outside. Yes even though the houses are wooden and normally consist of one large room... There was a dish on most houses and through the open doors you could see families sat around the television sets. The villages were lovely though with cows, pigs, chickens and even children roaming all over the place, the children in particular had no fear and would fly about naked or semi naked and had no fear when the bus flew past them at fifty odd miles an hour. The driver had no inkling about slowing down when he reached a village and instead just tooted for the duration of the journey through encouraging the livestock or children to move out if the way.

The families in each place sat on their decks chatting, weaving or playing with the boisterous toddlers and simply stared when the bus flew past. Every now and then we would stop and the locals would climb off returning with bags or figs and such... I just munched our huge back of bananas and Steven the rice crackers. We continued like this for a good four hours, also stopping periodically so the guys could relieve their bladders (they were worse then pregnant women) before we finally reached Vieng Thong. This was our half way point where we could get some food, we climbed off and went in search first for a toilet before looking at the food on offer. To be honest it looked stomach churning and it didn't look like a wise choice when we were only half way to our destination. Instead we asked about some noodle soup and the guy quoted ten thousand before instantly saying no fifteen... We walked off.

By a stall selling bananas I got chatting to a Lao couple who had lived in the USA for the past forty years, they had just bought some sticky rice for five thousand and were offering us to share it with them, along with beef jerky and dip. Steven went off to get some sticky rice to add to the offerings and the French girls some crisps before we tucked in. The sticky rice and beef (well I think it was beef) jerky together was delicious, especially with its barbecue glazed taste. The dip was spicy and equally nice... It was a very tasty meal. We also had some toffee tasting treats and I shared out my biscuits once we we back on the bus.

Soon enough we were back on the road, the bus had emptied out greatly at Vieng Thong so we all got our own seats now. We sat behind our new Lao friends and chatted for a while before everyone slowly dozed off. The journey was hitting the eight hour mark and everyone was stuffed from dinner... I had stayed a wake watching the sun set and wow it was so beautiful filling the sky with a beautiful pinky red hue. In the distance you could also make out lightening flashing in the clouds and that looked equally stunning, especially as no thunder was heard and no rain seen.

The journey continued into darkness with just one brief stop to fix the head lamps as they weren't working and on these narrow meandering mountain roads you definitely need them. At one point we skimmed past a 4X4 and the driver said something loudly in Lao and I'm guessing it was pretty insulting as the driver stopped his car and squared up to our driver who had stopped also in preparation for a slanging match or fisty cuffs. The driver saw the bus load of boys though and had second thoughts... This was further verified by our driver who drove off before the 4X4 driver had even reached the drivers window.

By now the drive was getting tedious as there was no longer anything to look at and we were all pretty tired. Eventually we pulled into Sam Nuea bus station, which sits in top of a small hill over looking the town. We had never been so happy to see so many twinkling slights, the town being bigger than I thought. We climbed off stiff and walking funny where we retrieved our bags and made a plan... The Lao couple had been talking to a tuk tuk driver and had bargained a price for ten thousand kip each for the ride to town. I then had to break it to him that the town was literally one km down a hill and the guy was taking the mick.. He probably didn't even next out the engine on for most of the journey. He didn't agree and thought it was a bargain price on which note we said goodbye and we would no doubt bump into them at some point. We all wanted to walk and despite the tuk tuk guy repeatedly telling us how far it was we just walked off.

As we thought town was a mere one km down a hill so the walk was easy especially given the cool night air. We found the monument that marked the guest house area and set about looking for a place to sleep. We had arrived at ten pm and so the seven hour bus ride had become ten... We were all very tired. We tried a couple of places offering rooms for seventy or eighty thousand kip (we were looking for more fifty but thought we would pay more here). We found one lady who offered us a room at sixty, I was keen to check it out but the French girls wanted to check out a supposed cheap place from lonely planet, I suggested they check this place first to have a comparison but this fell on deaf ears. We followed them to their place two doors down and it was now seventy... We left and after five minutes we eventually found one for fifty thousand so while Steven waited downstairs as we checked it out. The place was vile with peeling mouldy walls, two beds which had seen better days and a squat toilet. It was only for one night and was the cheapest so we thought we may take it. I left the girls to their similar room and headed downstairs... I didn't particularly want to stay but didn't want to seem a prima dona and it was only for one night. I was keen however to check out the originally lady with her sixty thousand kip rooms and negotiate with her... Especially as this place had no mosquito protection and Steven had been eaten alive already (plus it was squalid). We headed back a minute down an alley and found the women who showed us in to a very nice guesthouse, she showed us the room and it was a huge vast improvement with a clean tiled floor (not dirty peeling vinyl) and had a very clean bathroom with western toilet. The was also mosquito screens on the window (always preferable over a net to me) and free water and towels. I asked if she could go lower on price and she didn't really understand what I was saying so after about five minutes if gestures and such she finally got me and said no so we said "okay but the place next door is fifty so we will go there". She understood this and said "okay fifty is okay", although didn't seem happy.

Steven headed down to register and I headed for the shower... He returned a short while later with a thermos of hot water and sachets of free coffee so she can't have been to put out. I did feel bad now though as the room was so nice... I jumped in the shower and it was freezing, karma I suppose. No it was just wrongly labeled as Steven realised when he tried turning the dial the other way. I jumped back in and enjoyed an amazing shower before climbing into a wonderfully clean bed and reading while sipping a hot coffee. Steven wasn't far behind and we were soon drifting off so gave in and turned out the light and falling asleep instantly.