Right then, I am still playing catch up and because Laos' internet is a lot less frequent and a darn sight slower than that in Thailand, the odds are against me. Nonetheless, I aim to prevail in the face of adversity.

This week has been pretty intense and has been mixed with several highs and lows. Is. I started the week in Chianfg Mai and after the joys of spending 9 hours a day cooking culinary delights (and I assure you photos will follow soon), the time came to move on - more due to visa restrictions than much else. I loved being in Thailand and will certainly be coming back.

I booked myself on the 'luxury' all inclusive package to Louang Prahbang which included all my travel arrangements and most food (or so i thought!) . We were picked up (30 mins late) from the hostel (I had met a fellow backpacker who was intending to do the same luxurious journey) and we set off into the wild blue yonder for the 6 hour drive north. To tell the truth, the bus was actually very nice, albeit a bit cramped. I have travelled on worse, and when we reached the halfway pitstop for the obligatory travellers rip off, I was in good sprirts. Most of the people on the van were friendy and the idea was floated ( I cant imagine by whom) that we all get a bottle of Sangsom (Thai whisky/rum blend) and some coke to pass the second half more easily. And so began the slowbaot party. We arrived in Chiang Khon and 100 people from all the tour buses piled into this small town to spend the last of their Baht on beer and trinkets that they strictly probably didnt need and then we all awoke with heavy heads and severely in need of hair of the dog and headed for the port and then onto immigration.

This was my first border crossing in the far east and I have to say I thought it would be far more complicated but we were herded like cattle onto first minibuses to the port and then onto longtail boats to cross the Mekong (it turns out that our hostel was actually on the banks of the river and we hadnt been able to see it in the dark! The ridiculous $5 'leaving tax' was paid to the smiling assassin behind the immigration counter and off we headed into Laos. Once again, we were met at the far end of the trip by all sorts of people who wished to fleece us of our hard earned cash by all manner of methods. One girl even tried to get me to give her my little green slow boat sticker and tell me once I had given it up that I would need to go and buy a new one. The answer was swift and brutal and involved me speaking to her boss to get my little green sticker back! Burroughs 0 - Laos 10 yr olds 1!!

We were then ushered to the nearest restaurant and left to bake in the sunshine until we all bought water and more alcohol for the journey and finally, once our wallets were close to empty, they put us in a rtaxi and charged us all more money to drive us to the jetty - which turned out to be 300m away at the bottom of the road. It is strange but when you are in these groups of people, being herded they ingender you with a sort of inability to say you want to dso your own thing for fear of coming across as difficult so most of us just sat back and watxhed. However at this episode, a lot of people got very annoyed and the taxi driver relented and gave us our money back. I suppose he reckoned the takings from the restaurant and the commission he earned on ripping other people off at the exchange bureau was sufficient for that day. I was pleased that I had got some free bananas with my sandwich for lunch!

And so we boardr the boat. I am not quite sure what i was expecting - something akin to the cross channel boats I had got whilst island hopping but this boat was different again. Basically a floating bus (complete with hideously uncomfortable seats) we all piled aboard along with the others, and then just when it seemed that the boat was full and we were about to depart, they put the gang plank down again and 30 more people piled on. I gave up my seat at this point and to be honest, it was the best move i ever made as I ended sitting up in the party zone once more at the front of the boat and we were able to stretch our legs out and sleep. I also became aware that in order to be in the party zone, substance abuse became a priority and I was surrounded by people smoking and selling pot, valium and all manner of other substances which made for some interesting sights as we drifted along the Mekong for the next couple of days. I laughed to myself as these people snuck off down the the back of the boat so they could ingest whatever 'in secret'! Meanwhile i struck up a friendship with a chap who could play Crowded House songs on the guitar and a guy who had brought some Ipod speakers and had a good old singsong whilst consuming bottles of Sangsom. I am nor quite sure which was more offensive to the people around us on the boat not in the party zone - the junkies or my singing. I have my theories!

The first night on the boat saw us arrive in Pakbeng which is described inthe book at austere and the place where most new arrival in Laos begin to doubt their motivation for coming. In fact this charming little place had a great travellers vibe and I had a great dinner which involved rice whisky fire breathing and laptop hunting after one of the girls left her backpack on the boat (due to taking too much Valium and no doubt believing she was a kestrel or something as she floated up the beach) so off we went to find it on unsteady legs. I was surprised that when we got back to the dock, the boat we had come in on had suddenly become 20 boats, so a search party was sent to each and eventually we found said bag. Needless to say the only option following the find was to celebrate so back to the bar we went. My lingering memory of falling asleep was of the other two people in my room 'enjoying each others company' as my new travel buddty, Matt, and I tried to get some sleep.

We jumped aboard the boat the next morning with disproportionate numbers of grey rings around eyes and everybody agreed that the revelry of the previous day was excessive and should not be repeated. As the boat started, John turned on the speakers, we cracked open the bottles of whisky and Jess took her first Valium of the day. All very amusing. I did however discover that today's boat had a front sundeck so spent some of the day there.

All best of friends upon reaching Louang Prahbang, we decided that the partying must NEVER cease so booked into a hostel and headed off in search of more fun and frolics and also to get to know Lao Lao (the famous rice whisky) once more.

I have to say that whilst the going was heavy, I actually had a fantastic time on the slow boat and what could have been a painfully long and dull journey was actually one of the most fun times I have had whilst travelling thusfar and I really enjoyed it - so much so that I only read one page of my travelling book - Shantaram. Apparently this is a must for all travellers and so I am ploughing through a copy at present.

Louang Prabang is nneither latrge nor particularly exciting. What it does have though is really nice and sophisticated vibe with French colonial architecture prevailing in the old town and it is full of lovely restaurants and cafes. There are also some amazing craft markets selling more than the usual tat but sadly at vastly innflated prices. Apparently LP is to become the must see destination on the Times newspaper 2008 top 10 places to visit list. SO get your bags packed!

Sadly to mar the celebrations somewhat, I also picked up a horrendous 36 hour travel bug that saw me making like a garden sprinkler from both ends every hour on the hour for a couple of days. This rather put paid to my sightseeing but I managed to get the pics from some of the others from Kouang Si falls where they went and have to say, I am pretty jealous as it looks awesome. Perhaps when i come back...?!

Oh well, Louang Prahbang done, next stop Vang Vieng - apparently the party capital of Laos. Oh its a tough life. I just hope I can get my strength back after this bug in order to enjoy it as Im getting pretty tired from the non stop moving and travelling. Added to which, I am averaging about 3-4 hours sleep a night in hostels. I have promised myself a couple of nights in a nice hotel in Cambodia's beach resort (Sihanouk Ville) for New year. I just have to get there now!!

Speak soon all and I wish everyone a very happy Christmas. I shall be back in Vientiane by then and hope to catch up a bit more on sleep, blogs and photos. Love to you and your families.