Hello England!

We are currently in Luang Prabang, Northen Laos, however we have spent the last two weeks working our way up from Vientiane, through Vang Vieng and finaly arrived here.

When arriving in Vientiane we met up with a group of girls who we had met previously in Bangkok. We spent our time sunbathing, shopping, seeing the sights and trying out the amazing food in the Scandinavian bakery! We arrived on a bank holiday so the town was heaving with people. We had a lovely few days here, and discoverd 'Beer Lao', which is cheaper than a can of coke!

Our next destination was Vang Vieng, which is amazingly beautiful. We stayed in a hut on stilts, which moved when we walked! To one side of us we had the river, and to the other, endless mountains! Vang Vieng is renound for one thing in particular, tubing. Tubing is basically a pub crawl on a river, with numerous zip wires. You float down the river in a rubber ring stopping of at each bar for a drink or two. This process takes around 6 hours! Lauren and I had a great time and met some lovely people, however we may have drunk a tad too much! After a mud fight we decided (in our intoxicated state) that it would be a great idea for both of us to swing from a rather high zip wire. Unfortunatly this plan did not go the way we had invisioned! After climbing the bamboo stairs, grabing the zip wire and jumping off, we simply fell, rather than floated into the water! I can inform you that this is a very painful process, and hitting water at a great force does give you lovely bruises! Nevertheless, we had a great day!

We procceded to our next destination (battered and bruised), this being Luang Prabang, our current port of call. It is beautiful here, and we feel right at home with the locals! After being under French rule up until the 1950s, the city has a certain 'ambience' about it! With lots of little cafes, restaurants and jewellery shops, we have fallen in love with this city! Since being here we have visited the Royal Palace, art galleries, Laos ballet, temples, waterfalls and the local night market (obviously!).

Yesterday we spent the day in a cooking class, which i feel that i dragged lauren to slightly, but she is now practically Gorden Ramsey. She even holds his firey temprament, burning me with hot oil, which i wasnt to happy about, but all is well now! We made a variety of dishes, and got to eat them all too! It was a fun day and i think we have learnt alot.

Today we were up at half past five in the morning, ready to watch the local people give alms to the monks. They are given sticky rice, which is their only food for the day. The rows of orange robes are a wonderful sight. We then went for breakfast, and headed to a learning centre where we were able to volunteer. Young Laos aldults arrived and we were able to hopefuly help them with their English. I was with a 17 year old boy who spoke very good English, i helped him with his homework, but gave up when he asked me about triganometry! Lauren was sat with two students who wanted to practice some basic English. It's funny how hard it is to explain what a pencil is when someone has no idea. We both loved it though, and were all laughing and joking by the end!

We are heading off to Vietnam tomorrow, although the journey could take afew days! I hope you have enjoyed the latest blog, and that you are all well! Hope to have some pictures up soon, the computers are being rather slow!

Lots of love, Louise and Lauren!

P.S- Karen please ignore my Dads bullying, im sure Billly Eliot was great! Lauren is very jealous!

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