Hey everyone, just a quicky documenting my travelling down the Mekong.... it was a crazy couple days!

April 16th- Leaving Chiang Mai

We spent the day doing our usual sunbathing and recovering from a crazy night on the 15th! I did not anticipate it being quite so manic.... it involved a lot of drinking and dancing!

We basically went to the 'Roots, Rock and Reggae' which had a awesome little 'Bob Marley'-esque band playing, where we danced our little hearts out with Tristan and Rob, who were a laugh. Having sufficiently shaking our booties, we moved across the street to sing our hearts out to a thai indie cover band, who pelted out such tunes as 'Dakota', 'Otherside', 'Are you gonna be my girl?' etc.... was good fun! Got in at 4am... well sara got in a little later... but for different reasons.... ;)

Anyway, on the evening of the 15th we got picked up by a mini-van which we thought was gonna take us to a larger bus for our transport to the border.... but we were wrong. Turned out this diddy mini bus was our transport to the border! But, in such close quarters you are forced to make friends, and we did... two girls from Bristol called Samantha and Clare (sisters), who are an absolute hoot. Anyway, we arrived at 2am at our accomodation for a couple of hours before our boat trip. It was alright, and we were all so bloody knackered that feel fast asleep the moment our heads hit the pillow. It was somewhat shorted lived though, as we had to get up at 6.30 ready for our boat. Although, in true Thai style, we didnt leave til 9am anyway!

April 17th- First day down the Mekong
We then got in a pick up truck that took us to border control (basically a small hut with one man trying to control hundreds of tourists!) It was a bit of an effort lugging my 20kg bag plus extras around! Anyway, having got through border control we got on a mall boat to cross the river into Laos... as you can tell, it was a lot of getting in and out of vehicles... which is a bit of a palava when carrying so much.

We got our Laos Visa, hung around an hour longer not knowing where the hell we should be... and then got in another pick up truck. At this point I was sweating buckets and resembled something very different from usual...

When we finally reached the boat, we discovered it wa possibly one of the most uncomfortable set ups in the world... it had tiny wooden benches lined very close together, and most were taken up. Luckily we did get one, although I spent most of the time on the floor anyway!

The whole boat trip was actually an absolute hoot! We met so many awesome people, and were still sticking with Samantha and Clare, which was a nice change from just being a twosome. I read some more of my book, kicked back with a few beers and embraced the Mekong scenery which was stunning.

When the boat arrived near Pak Ou, we disembarked only to be met by a hige rocky face we had to apparently scale. Having said 'Are you having a laugh?' I realised they clearly werent and we all genuinely had to scale this rock face... sara had a near death experience and I ironically managed to take the skin off tyhe end of my other toe, so I now have two plastered toes! W e found accomodation with 5 people we met on the boat and had a great evening of Laos whiskey drinking and chatting about our various adventures, it was great fun.

April 18th- Second day down the Mekong

Had to get up again at 7am for the boat (and yet again it didnt leave until 10...). Upon arrival at the boat we realised that they had decided to combine two boat loads of peple on the one single boat... so today would be even more cramped! It was ok though, as the crowd of people were so much fun. I met this interesting Journalist graduate from Glastonbury who advised me about my career and gave me all sorts of little magazines and blogs to check out, as well as telling me about John Pilger, who sounds like an interesting author I really wanna look into. I met two canadians, Adrian and Robin, who were drunkards, but had a wicked knack for card games. There was a struggling musician and his girlfriend from London, who were so down to earth. Everyone was awesome, as you can probably tell!

Anyway, more good scenery, heat and sweat... etc etc... we finally arrived in Louang Prabang. Samantha, Sara, Clare and I all hoistered our bags on our backs in search of a hostel, and eventually found a lovely one for just 2 pound a night... I dunno how I am gonna live with the prices bakc home, I mean today I fought with a tuk tuk driver over 50p... what have I become!!

After getting changed we checked out the night market and then went drinking with our river buddies. Went to this great little bar called Laos Laos and enjoyed being in a huge group again! Returned in the early hours to a lovely fanned room... slept like a baby!

April 19th- Day in Louang Prabang

We were awoken by Samantha, in typical Bristolian style, banging on our door at 10am (an unearthly time to surface on a hang over) but were glad to get out and do something with the day.

We visited the various Wats around Louang Prabang, which is a fairly small town so everything is in walking distance. It was just nice to stretch our legs after such cramped conditions on the boat. We climbed 276 steps up the hill to see Phou Si ("Sacred Hill"), which also provided spectacular views of the Mekong, and was a good bit of exercise, as I am missing running a lot at the moment. Louang Prabang has beautiful French influenced architecture, and it is an interesting dynamin when the backdrop to these beautiful french mansions is thick forest.

After wandering around for a bit, we decided to visit the waterfalls. It was a great relief to just swim in the icy waters, and we swang off of the rope swing into the gorgeous pools. It was a really nice trip, and was worth the 35km tuk tuk drive.

In the evening we went around the night market again and ate from a street side vegetarian buffet for just 5000 kip (or around 40p)... I bought some great pressies, and some lovely jewellery. We then headed back to the Laos Loas bar, where there were a table of around 15 people from our boat which we joined. Much drinking and great conversation commenced, and we then found ourselves cramped in the back of a tuk tuk (I kid you not, around 20 pple were on top of, inside, on the sides of this vehicle!) which took us to this Laos club, which we danced for a while in, but the curfew is around 11pm here, so we were forced to leave. Where we went next may surprise you... a bowling alley. There is a loop hole in Laos law that allows bowling alleys to not be confined by the curfew, so we all went their for a bowl and a drink... very strange! Got another packed tuk tuk home after a rather surreal night out!

Anyway, missing you all sqillions, seriously! Really wish you could all be here to experience this too, I am having a great time! Love to you all! My thai sim doesnt work, so email me, or call or text my english number! xxxxxxxxxxx