Day 39 - Luang Prabang

The hostel we had booked into last night was pretty much a dump, so when we got up today we checked out and went to find somewhere better. We had lunch first and then went wandering around the city. We found a really nice guesthouse with a lovely double room for the same price we were paying in the hostel, so we booked it and went back tote hostel to get our bags. Unfortunately, we couldn't remember which way we had walked and got completely lost. We walked around for a couple of hours, which was a good way to see the place, and eventually gave up and asked a tuk tuk driver to take us. Afterwards we had to go to the Vietnam consulate to et our visa. It takes three days to process so we booked our bus to Vietnam for the same day. We then went out to some bars, played pool and had a few drinks. We met an Australian couple who we ended spending the night with. Laos has a midnight curfew, and we didn't notice the time until 11.55, so it was a rush to get back to hostel trying to avoid any police who would be looking for bribes. We made it back with no problems and went to bed.

Day 40 - Luang Prabang

Today we spent the day organising some stuff for later in the trip. We booked a tour for the next day, did our laundry, tried to book some flights that needed booked, and tried to figure out how much time we had left to do each place we want to go. Throughout the day we spent some time walking around luang Prabang, at the Market and around the streets. 

Day 41 - Luang Prabang

It was an early rise today getting ready for our tour we had booked. I was up and ready and out for breakfast before Michael had even woke up. I sat in a cafe having some french toast hoping he would be up and getting ready! We were picked up at 8am and taken to the boat. We were finally allowed on at 8.30 (the usual 30 min wait for no reason) and quickly discovered that they are seriously uncomfortable. We had considered doing a two day boat trip into Laos, and were now very glad we bad decided not to! The boat ride was relaxing even though uncomfortable. Our first stop was whiskey village, which is a little river side village where the people make Lao Lao whiskey. They immediately tried to give us a free taster, but we had tried it before and definitely didn't want to do it again! We did buy a bottle as a souvenir though which has two cobras inside. We got back on the boat and headed further up the river to the Pak Ou Caves. The caves were creepy - they are full of old Buddha statues. Because they are sacred, when they are damaged or old people bring them here instead of throwing them out. Interesting but creepy. We then went back on the boat and were taken to a van which took us to the Kuang Si waterfalls. This was really nice, we walked to the top of the falls and there is a huge big waterfall coming over the cliffs. As we followed it down there are lots of pools where you can swim. We got in but the water was absolutely freezing cold. It's really strong too with the waterfall being so big so it was hard to stop yourself being pulled over. Their was a rope swing in one of the pools where people were swinging and diving in. At the waterfalls there were lots of bears which have been saved from poachers (they are in captivity, like a zoo) and we watched two of them fighting for a long time. On the way home we were taking to a Hmong Village. Compared to the other tribes we visited, this one was horrible. There seemed to be no adults, just kids trying to sell things. The kids looked dirty and ill - they had scabs on their faces, bald patches and they were all coughing. So we walked through as quick as we could, it was not nice! By the time we got home we were knackered! So we had a lazy night where we had dinner and did nothing much else.