Hey everyone, so we're chilling here in Luang Prabang, which as everyone so far has said at least once a day - it's a really laid back vibe here! We've been bombing around on bicycles, visiting markets, and Wats, lots of Wats... and sorry there aren't any Laos pictures in the Off exploring library so I'll get some of our own once we work out how to upload them!

The French influence is really evident here and the town is a Unesco site which is great as it means it will still be beautiful if you visit in 5 years - there are amazing views of the Mekong river everywhere you turn.

Mostly we've been hanging out with the scooby gang who you met last postcard, we've been doing a lot of eating, mainly at the nightmarket where we have been sampling sticky rice on a stick, water buffalo, lots and lots of noodle soup and fish on the stick. Evan's favourite is the pork dumplings - fluffy rice bread light as air filled with pork or chicken and a boiled egg - delicious and only 1000 kip each - which is about 5p. My favourite is bananas and my personal records is about 12 a day now... either fresh or toasted over coals, any which way will do. A big bunch costs about 10p. We are millionaires lots of times over in Laotian kip - having withdrawn an amazing 2.5 million for the week only yesterday!

Yesterday we also sampled Lao Lao the local rice whisky which bears a passing resemblance to tequila. Also vatka lao which we purchased a bottle of, which bears no resemblance at all to vodka... apart from in its strength...most people stuck to lao beer leaving me to finish off the lao lao - what a shame!

Luang Prabang is the set of a bond movie for sure - where he gets sent to an ex colony, there's a man on the ground, (that's ou friend Mr B as he's french,) and people sit around drinking local cocktails in bars twarting sinister plots) We're not sure of Frank's role in the movie yet but he will appear if you say his name 3 times. And we only have to say " I haven't seen Frank for a while" for him to appear on a bicycle or at the same stall having noodle soup...

We ( I say we, I mean me, Rob and Andrea, Evan was in bed sensibly) got up at 5.30am yesterday to witness the ceremony whereby the town's monks ( and there are hundreds of them, mostly under 21) get up and walk round the town and the local people give them all food. We timed it completely wrong and got to one of the wats and nothing was happening, apart from us narrowly missing being eaten by rabid dogs ( that is an exageration for anyone's mother who is reading.) So we headed back only to meet a lady who was setting up on the curb with her wicker pot of sticky rice and we found out from her that the monks would shortly be coming this way, so we stuck around to watch and it was really quite moving as each monk was given a small bit of sticky rice by each person who was there for them. Apparently they do this every day as it the only way for them to get food.

Today we chartered an open air cab ( these run all over this part of the world and are adapted vans with a kind of seat in the back) to take us to a famous waterfall, which definitely fitted in with the bond movie theme as the place where bond meets the bond girl coming out of the waterfall in a white bikini. Andrea and I made perfect bond girls I have to say :-) It was incredibly picturesque with the water a milky kind of blue colour and not too many tour buses! We asked our driver to stop at a random village on the way back where Rob asked someone if we could have some food so we were cooked noodle soup by some faintly bemused locals for which we paid them hansomely. And it was very nice, although if I don't turn into a banana soon I may turn into a rice noodle...

Tomorrow we head to a village near here and from there is anyone's guess!