Today we were up by about 8am so that we could get some sight-seeing done before the heat of the day kicked in. Our first stop was Phu Si, a 100m tall hill in the middle of the city centre and not far from our hotel. At its summit is a 24m gilded stupa called That Chomsi, which is flood-lit at night and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. We started the long, slow climb from the entrance opposite the Nam Khan river and stopped for regular rests on the...

When we arrived in Luang Prabang there was a tuk-tuk waiting to take people (only Western people we noticed, so locals must pay cheaper fares) to their guesthouses for 15,000kip each (just over £1). Too tired to haggle or shop around, we got in a soon arrived at the guesthouse we'd booked - Merry 2. We never know whether we'll be able to check-in that early (it was about 7am!), but always hope for the best. Luckily, they were just cleaning our room so we were ...

Our last day in the capital of Laos today; our bus wasn't due to leave until 8pm so we had time to fit in a few more sights. After another fantastic breakfast at the hotel, we left our bags behind and caught a tuk-tuk to a place called COPE, on the outskirts of town. COPE stands for the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise, which is a bit of a mouthful but bear with us - it was one of the most interesting and inspiring places we've visited on the who...

After a very good night's sleep in our massive bed we went down to the restaurant for our free breakfast - another rarity for us! We'd read some really good reviews about the breakfast here and soon saw why. We were handed a menu with 6 different breakfast options - I went for the 'light European' breakfast of fresh fruit, yoghurt, croissant, butter and Laos jam, while Dave went for the 'American' of fried egg, bacon beans and toast (isn't that a full English n...

Woke up on the sleeper train again today after another less-than-perfect night's sleep - still much better than the overnight buses though! We arrived at Nong Khai, close to the border, at about 8:30am, and saw that the international train to Laos was leaving at 9am. We quickly bought our tickets for the 15 minute train ride - only 20 baht each! Then it was through passport control on the station platform to be stamped out of Thailand and onto the train in 3rd ...