Hi there, so another week of our travels and so many more sights and experiences gained. When I tapped the last blog out in dear old Chiang Mai, Thailand, I didn't expect to be composing another one so soon, but Lee and I have somehow managed to take over 800 photo's since the last blog which kind of means that it must be time to share some of the stories with you again.

As per last blog, when we arrived in Chiang Mai, we got there just in time for the Songkran (New Year) festival, all the water throwing that went on for a whole week. The first few days of getting a good soaking was all good fun, but after day 4, although the attacks were fewer and further between, it was starting to get a little on the past the fun stage. Incidentally Lee and I got talking to another couple saying how we couldn't believe nobody seemed to get hurt during the water throwing week, as we had seen lots of wobbly scooter drivers and people running out into the road infront of vehicles as they were taken by suprise by a bucket of ice cold water in their face. The couple then told us that it was in the news that over 300 people, up and down Thailand, had died as a result of accidents related to the festival, either road accidents, or drownings in rivers, moats etc!! Now we see why this sort of thing doesn't happen in the UK!

When everything re-opened again after the festivities, Lee and I were able to start booking trips and activities again. We kick started things by doing a 1 day Thai cookery course which we chose due to the dishes it offered and also as it said it was a 'school' which operated from a farm overlooking the mountains, and that the students, i.e us, would be able to select many of the ingredients we would be using from the farm itself and therefore be really organic. The first part of the day included being taken to the local market to see exactly what a typical Thai food market sells, and to see where and how most of the people shop for their fresh ingredients. I think that before we got picked up, Lee and I were wondering just how interesting this bit of the day might be, but I have to say that as soon as we arrived, our senses were on overload as we struggled to take in all the sights and smells. Our guide started off by showing us what the basic 'Thai curry paste (i.e Thai green curry, yellow or red curry) should look like, and how lots of people within the catering industry would just buy the paste already made up from the market. From then on it was a case of seeing all the other many many products that also go into making a lot of the Thai dishes. We had a chance at the end to walk round at our own leisure to see anything else that took our interest. There seemed to be so much going on all around that it was difficult to decide which direction to go in first. One thing we noticed as soon as we entered the market was the stifling heat which of course attracts flies by the hundreds, and although some of the stalls had fans overhead, more to keep the market seller cool than the food, we saw that by the meat stalls they seemed to have some very strange ruddementary fans doing there best to keep the flies at bay. At first it actually looked like lumps of meat, steaks or chops maybe were tied 2 a piece on a small pole that spun round, but on closer inspection it turned out that it wasn't infact a meat fan, but a basic bodged together fan nonetheless. We were just wandering down the line of meat counters when we suddenly spotted the most grotesque but funny thing that had to be in the whole of the market. I don't think anyone thinks of butchers as being a nice place to have a look round, but what we saw on this stall was more like something from the film Saw or similar. On a big table was a complete pigs head, slightly yellowish in colour (eyes removed), but completely whole as if someone had just gone up to the poor creature and just severed the head from the neck and then placed the item onto the table. It was a bit gross but nothing too unexpected on a meat stall. It was what was next to that that was the really gross thing, and actually more than what that was, it was more the fact that they had been displayed right next to the whole pigs head that made it look like a scene from a horror movie. Lined up next to the whole pigs head was another 3 pigs heads, except that these 3 had had their faces removed, so they still looked like pigs but had no skin on them, no ears, but most horrifically, they all still had eyes, and they all seemed to be looking out in terror at anyone walking past them. Lee and I um'ed and ar'ed about putting the picture on our blog as we don't want to distress anyone but if you're stomach is feeling strong enough, do check it out as we think it actually looks quite comical! Just after our encounters with the piggies, we came across some stalls that contained equally gross produce. Lined up in big trays or pre-packed were hundreds of crispy fried bugs and bettles of all descriptions, from locusts and maggots to much bigger and scarier looking insects. Lee and I had heard that most of the deep fried insects are supposed to taste like roasted peanuts or similar, and so I'm still quite keen to give them a go one day. Saddly we didn't have enough time to purchase any on this day but I'm still hopeful to sample some before we return home.

Once we left the fascinating market, we headed towards the farm which was located out of town, right out in the countryside. We were taken on a guided tour around the farm and shown all the different types of fruit and vegetables and herbs grown on their land. It was really interesting to see all the different crops that are grown so easily and naturally in Asia. I've always been interested in exotic foods from around the world, an interest my mum instilled on me as a child, and so seeing some of these things growing naturally was really exciting. We've all seen fresh ginger and parsley etc in the supermarkets back home (good old Tesco, and for a more exotic selection, Waitrose) but to see things like galangal, lemongrass, jack fruit and pineapples growing in their natural state is something else. I totally love the idea of living off the land, no pesticides or other chemicals, just fresh organic wholesome food straight from the garden to the stove. I'm trying to convince Lee we should get a house with some land so we can grow all our own food when we get back home but not too sure it would work back in the UK so well.

We were soon getting our aprons on and being shown in quick step by step instructions how to prepare each of the dishes we had selected, and were then busy chopping and dicing our fresh ingredients and then pulverising them in pestle and mortars until we each had something that resembled a basic curry paste. Lee opted to cook a Yellow Curry whilst I opted to cook our much favoured Green Curry. Once we added all the other ingredients, we were then being shown how to prepare our next dishes, Lee's being sweet and sour chicken and cashew nut, and mine being chicken in basil. Although it seemed a little out of sequence, we were then all preparing our third dishes, which were all thai soup based dishes, mine a Tom Yam soup with shrimp, and Lee's a chicken in coconut milk soup. The cooking lesson was pretty intense, and we literally went from cooking one dish straight to the next dish, leaving the previuosly prepared dishes in bowls to keep the food warm until lunch time. By the time lunchtime came round, we were all pretty much salivating over the dishes we had all been cooking and eager to try our own and each others dishes. The bowls were all brought out to the big banquet style table outside, and one by one were placed onto the surface. As more and more bowls started to appear, so the space on the table surface started to disappear and we realised that this was going to be one hell of a feast. It was only the end of the morning session, and we each already had 3 big dishes to attempt to eat, not including the rice. As you can imagine, we started off eager to enjoy most of what we had all cooked, but by a third of the way through each dish, we were almost growing sick of the sight of it all. I have to say that Lee's yellow curry was sensational, really really delicious. My green curry, along with everyone elses who opted to cook the green curry, kind of looked like it had separated and disappointingly wasn't anywhere near as spicy or tasty as I had hoped it would be. The cooking guide assured me it was due to the fact that I hadn't beaten my mixture into enough of a paste before, and that with practice at home (and less rush) it would fix this problem and look and taste a lot better. Reason enough to try this dish back home a few times I guess. After lunch it was time to prepare another 2 dishes. Our stomachs were all so full that it almost seemed a bit of a struggle to want to look at any more food let alone cook it. Again Lee and I opted to cook different dishes so we could sample each others wares and try and learn a good mixture of dishes between us incase we should ever entertain people!!! We had eaten shed loads of Pad Thai in the last month and practically grew adicted to the stuff, so it was inevitable that 1 of us would choose that dish, so I persuaded Lee that as I was the one who was most likely to be doing the cooking when we got home, that I should cook that. Lee then cooked the vegetable spring rolls, which he said he didn't really like that much, but knew that I did so would learn that dish because of me, bless him. We both learned how to fix up 2 different desserts too, which up until this point, weren't too inspired about, but I have to say that on trying the desserts we totally changed our minds. I opted for the mango and sticky rice and Lee went for banana's in coconut milk - OMG we could not get enough of either of these dishes, we suddenly discovered room in our stomachs to shovel as much of this in as we could. Like the mornings session, Lee's efforts turned out to be better than mine. His spring rolls looked divine, better even than some that we have eaten in restaurants and from street hawkers. Even Lee agreed that they were really tasty and proudly tucked into some later that evening for our dinner. My Pad Thai was pretty ok too, but again got saved for our dinner later that night as there was no way we could manage more food that afternoon. It was quite amusing eating our creations out of a doggy bag in our hotel room that night, no plates or cutlery, just the plastic bag it had been put in and a couple of sporks (spoon one end, fork the other). I'm so looking forwards to trying these and some of the other recipes out when we get home!

The next day we were being picked up for our 2 day 1 night trek into the countryside, about 100 KMS out of Chiang Mai to go and visit a few of the famed hilltribes. Our trek began with a stop at a lovely waterfall which was chance to have a nice welcomed cool off before heading up into the steep forests towards our destination, a small village of people who belong to the Karon tribe. The trek took about 2 hours but in the intense heat and debilitating humidity, seemed longer than that. We eventually reached the village in the late afternoon, and were able to drop our bags into the communal village hut which would be our home for the evening, before wandering around the village to see the locals going about their business. We were assured that it was fine to wander all around the village, and that the locals wouldn't mind us taking photo's, but Lee and I said it still felt voyeristic and felt slightly uncomfortable taking photo's of the people who were just living their lives as they would if we were not there. Although most didn't speak English, most seemed really friendly in their guestures and were obliging with our polite requests to take the odd photo. Although Lee and I had partaken in something similar when we were in Borneo, this still felt different and really exciting as this village was even more remote than the one we stayed in on Borneo, and the way the people lived in this village was slightly different to what we had experienced before. It was great being able to see the villagers in their traditional dress, and although some of the children and older men were wearing more western style clothing, it still had a real feeling of authenticity. After all we had trekked for 2 hours to reach this village, so it was unlikely that the village was full of people just dressing up for the tourists. After some dinner we were treated to a singing show around the camp fire, by the village children. This was very amusing as we could tell that they were so used to putting on this performance once a week for the group of visiting tourists, and they just didn't want to be there. A couple of the younger boys in the front row even started to have fisticuffs whilst the other distracted children sang out of sync in the other rows. We were all still felt very privalidged to be watching them and enthusiastically encouraged them at the end of each song. It was then our turn to 'treat' the children to a song from us as a thank you to them for their efforts. We were asked for one of us to lead the rest in song, and when no-one came up with any ideas, I lead us all into a chorus of 'Old Macdonald'. Well, we were put on the spot and looking round for inspiration suddenly realised that we were also being watched by loads of the village pigs, chickens, dogs and ducks.

After a relatively peaceful nights sleep in the communal village bambo hut, we awoke to the sound of many c*** crowing before sunrise, but thankfully we all pretty much managed to get a couple more hours sleep in until we had to rise. We had the rest of the morning to spend some more time wandering around the village again, taking more photo's if we wished, or to just soak up some of the village life with our own hearts and eyes. We had another 2 hour trek to take us from the village to our next meeting point but thankfully this was all downhill and so was nice and easy. We eventually reached a flat point by a road and were picked up by a small truck, in which we somehow managed to get 17 people into, and then drove to another village where some of us did an elephant trek. Lee and I didn't feel particularly happy about doing the elephant trek as we had done it previously in Ko Samui a couple of years ago, and didn't feel happy about the way in which the guides/riders or whatever they are called, treated the lovely animals. We reluctantly agreed to join everyone else and go for the hour trek up into the forest and back along the road, but still felt ashamed afterwards to agreeing to take part in something which just didn't feel right. I'm not saying that all the elephants get abused, but we just felt that it seemed a bit cruel to keep these majestic animals continually climbing rocky forest paths all just to keep tourists entertained. Thankfully the guy who was leading our elephant seemed to treat her fairly enough (although who knows how they're treated when away from tourist eyes). We said we definitely wouldn't ever do another elephant trek though.

After some lunch we headed off towards the river where we were to enjoy the last of the activities included on this trip. In groups of 3 we were ushered onto bambo rafts, lead either by one of the local children, or for those bigger groups of people who chartered their own raft, one of their group. The young Thai lad at the helm of our raft instructed Lee to stand at the back and to use his long bambo stick to help row, or punt more like from the rear. It all started off nice and smooth and Lee was doing a fine job of keeping his balance and propelling us forwards, but soon the language barrier coupled with the fact that the boy at the front was just blatantly ignoring Lee's requests for instructions or suggestions, and we were getting into all sorts of bother. It seemed that whenever a big rock was approaching, the young boy was ignoring Lee's suggestion to start steering away from it in good time and so we would then end up hitting it at a fair speed which caused us all to jolt forwards, but also resulted in us then being embeded onto the said rock until the lad jumped into the water and then started heaving the raft up to get us on our way again. This happened many a time and Lee started to understandably lose his patience a bit and was then trying to navigate away from the obstacles before we got too close. The young lad then suddenly found his voice but instead of praising Lee or following his lead, he then started gesturing that he shouldn't be doing that, and so inevitably, we had many more jolts and scrapings onto the rocks. We had been on the raft for about 20 minutes and were saying how suprised we were that it was only our bums and legs that were in contact with the water that had got wet, when we were suddenly ambushed by a 2 groups of people on other rafts who were on the river with 2 things on their minds - drinking, and celebrating Songkran. It seems they celebrate it a bit later and for a bit longer the further north you go in Thailand, and so for the umpteenth time that week, we all ended up completely soaking through, all in the name of the New Year! From this point onwards to the end of our river journey, we were never far from more ambushes. Of course once you're wet through, it really is no problem when more water, even if it is brown river water gets thrown or splashed at you, and so once again we were trying to remember to keep our mouths closed even though we were laughing really hard, trying not to swallow any of the murky water. The further downriver we got, we saw that the straw huts that lined the river's edge had been turned into impromptu bars and snack shacks. For as far as the eye could see, peole were floating from 1 side to the other all re-stocking their diminishing suppliles from their rafts that they had either finished drinking, or had lost overboard when they had crashed into other rafts or rocks. When we climbed off at the end, completely drenched but having had great fun we realised how this must be a cause of some of the related deaths too. We certainly saw a few and were nearly involved in crashes with other rafts. Drinking and water have never really been a good mixture!

The next day Lee and I were headed off into the countryside again, this time in a minibus on the 180KM trip to see the 'long neck and big ears tribes'. We were warned that a lot of tour companies try to sell tickets to see these tribes people near to Chiang Mai, but what you see in fact is just 4 long neck women who have been brought into a village near to Chiang Mai, that sit on a bench so that tourists can take photo's. This didn't appeal to Lee and I as we wanted to see the real deal, i.e in their own village, even if that meant a long trip just to go to see them. Our guide explained that although we were going to see the 'long necks' in their own village, the people aren't actually native to Thailand. They are refugees from Burma who have resettled into a village on the Thai side of the Burmese/Thai border, and so the village that we saw them in was in fact only about 16KMS from the Burmese border. We stopped on the way to visit some caves in which there are a number of temples leading from the cave which was also an interesting sight to see. We eventually arrived at the 'long neck' village and hopped out of the minivan to take a peek at the wares they were trying to sell. Again Lee and I felt voyeristic even just looking at these amazing ladies let alone taking pictures, but we were assured that they were more than used to the tourists' curiousity and requests to take pictures. The first lady we came too was so amazingly beautiful that it was impossible to take your eyes off of her. Even though her neck was elongated, she still radiated an immense beauty that was only drawn to even more by the line of rings around her neck. We wondered around the various stalls talking to many of the women as we went along. They were very eager to sell their goods and we all felt a little bit pressured and guilty and so ended up buying something small from most of the stalls. We came prepared with sweets for the children but it was the elder ladies that we felt most compelled to buy from. Everyone we met was so sweet natured and were all smiles even though there was a language barrier. A lot of the older ladies had big black stumps for teeth but again this just added to their complete charm. We found out that the girls start wearing the rings around their necks from the age of 5 until they get married. They gain 1 new ring each year and the total weight if they have all 12 rings, is 35KGS!!! We got to hold a dummy neck ring of equal weight and were shocked by just how heavy that felt. It was explained that although the ladies look like they have long necks that have stretched over the years with all the weight, it was actually that their shoulders have been pressed down by the weight, and that their necks are still the same length as they would have been without the rings. Although it felt voyeristic and a bit intrusive, it was absolutely fascinating to see these people, again for the way they still live in their traditional dress if nothing else.

The next day was our last in Chiang Mai, and in Thailand in fact. The minivan came to pick us up ready for the long 3 day, 2 night journey on a slow boat down the Mekong River into Laos. We spent our first night in a guest house right by the Thai/Laos border before getting up early the next day to join the chaos that is Immigration on the Laos entry port of Houy Xai. We nearly had the headache of being stitched up by the bus company who had taken us from the Thai border to the boat across to Laos, but after a few heated words and a couple of phone calls, managed to get it sorted out. It seems the first part of our journey from Chiang Mai to the border was all above board and fine, but the unscrupulous people who we stayed with in the guest house, or maybe just the guys who own the slow boat companies trying to pull a fast one, but basically someone was trying to say we hadn't paid for the boat and was trying to charge us again. Anyway, that was sorted out and we were then transported to another part of the village that meets up with the Mekong to begin our long journey down river towards Luang Prabang.

We had been previously warned about the perils of the slow boat but felt that we had come fully prepared, mentally as well as physically with our supplies of books, ipods, cushions and snacks, but it seems you can never prepare yourself enough for this journey. If you are lucky enough to get on the boat first you may stand a chance of getting one of the few car seat type chairs, but for the majority of people, its either a case of sitting on an impossibly uncomfortable seriously upright wobbly double bench (think of church pews) or parking your behind on what space is available. The first 2 hours passed by and we were sitting on our little bench thinking that things weren't so bad, the seat might be uncomfortable but at least it was a seat of sorts, and the scenery was beautiful. As the hours started to pass, a group of people who had started out playing cards at a reasonable noise and drinking level started to turn up the volume, well one gobby girl anyhow. Four hours in and her voice was about the only thing anyone could hear on the boat, she even drowned out the noise of the loud chugging engine. Of course all the drunken delights being sputtered from her fowl mouth left little to the imagination about her and it was a small miracle no-one actually got up and tried to shut her mouth for her. When after 7 hours we finally stated heading towards the river bank I think everyone let out a huge sigh of relief and said how they were heading towards the nearest bar.

We spent our first night in Laos in the small but nice enough village of Pak Beng, which is basically described as being nothing more than the overnight stop off point for people doing the slow boat journey. Lee and I were amazed to find that there were an abundance of hotels that were so unbelievably cheap and yet still very reasonable hotels. The room which we stayed in was by far the best room we had stayed in for well over a week and cost the equivalent of 1 pound 50! We headed out for some dinner and emersed our stresses from the journey in a couple of medicinal drinks. Lee discovered that they sold his beloved Smirnoff vodka at one of the shops and at a very reasonable price too, and so snapped up a 750ML bottle just incase it was needed for the remaineder of the journey the next day. It turns out that it was indeed needed the next day for the journey. The second day of the journey was even more intense than the first. Not only did we arrive onto the boat to find out they were going to be squeezing 2 slow boats worth of passengers onto the 1, but that they would be picking up more passengers and their 'luggage' along the way. Half the people on the rickety benches in the middle section decided it best to get rid of the flimsy things and all squash together on the floor. Lee and I watched along with a few other dubious people from our row of benches, and then realised that we had infact made the right decision. Seeing them all squeezed together like sardines, sweating all over each other as there was no room to move an inch either side was enough to make us realise we were wise to stick to our guns even though there were snidey remarks about how it would have worked out better if we had all done it. I knew from that early point before we had even departed that this was going to be a particularly tough journey, more so than the previous day. I consolled myself in the fact that at least Lee and I were sat about 6 rows up from the gobby girl from the previous day, and from what I could tell, she looked sheepish even and seemed like she would be keeping her comments to herself.

Once we finally left the small port area and were on our way, we were suprised to see that our boat was soon heading towards the river bank only a bit further up from where we had left. As we pulled in it became obvious that a few village people were going to join our cramped boat. As we pulled away, it didn't even occur to us that there would be more stops to pick up more people, just adding to the already squashed bodies on board. Soon we were stopping again, only this time about 3 people got on with their 'luggage', which basically was a load of great big fish on pieces of fishing line. It all seemed a bit random, but the other local people on board did not seem at all suprised by this. 10 minutes later we were pulling over again, but this time I noticed that there was a bigger group of people gathered on the bank ready to board. I could see that some of them also had items to bring on board and was straining my eyes to see what each of them had. I was absolutely gobsmacked when into focus came a lady carrying a deep fried bat in one hand and its skin in the other. It looked like the poor thing had been dipped into the fat completely whole as you could just about make out that it still had its eyes - yuk! And so the lady boarded with her bat and basket of god knows what else. A few others joined the boat too, some with dead squirrels and another lady with a basket full of little chicks, live ones! This was certainly starting to become an interesting ride. More stops but this time a guy boarded with 2 puppies in his arms, again live thankfully, and everyone started oo'ing and ahh'ing at the cute little things. Off we set again on Noah's Ark, but after stopping at least 6 times by now, it was becoming a bit tedious and we were starting to wonder if we would ever make it to Luang Prabang before sundown. The hours passed by slowly but Lee and I were just about hanging in there when all of a sudden we were awoken from our bored state by the shrill cackle from the witch from the day before. Someone had rattled her cage and she had somehow worked her way forward to right behind where Lee and I were sitting again. Again she managed to con some other poor fellows into drinking and playing cards and listening to her massive mouth, and by now, it was a case of everyone on the boat being able to hear her gob. We sat doing our best to block her annoying voice out for as long as we could, but over 6 hours into the 'slow' boat journey with another 2 to go, there was no other option but to crack open the vodka so we could at least mellow ourselves out a bit. It worked, and thankfully the last couple of hours passed by without too much stress, although we were over the moon to have finally reached Luang Prabang.

We have been in Luang Prabang for 3 days now and I have to say we both really love the place. It still has many gorgeous French style buildings left from the colonial days. Although the architechture appears very French, it does all stil have a wonderfully Laotian feel to it all too. The streets are lined with a mixture of grand old colonial buildings and the odd majestic temples just set back from the streets a little. The Mekong river flows either side of the fairly narrow peninsular, and those roads are all lined with charming little cafes and hotels. There are gorgeous flowers and trees in every direction and so the place is bursting with colour. The traffic is minimal with only scooters and 'jumbos' (kind of half motorbike at the front and basic truck on the back half) passing down the roads. Lee and I paid a bit extra to charter a small boat and driver to take us on a sunset cruise on a small stretch of the Mekong on our first proper night here. The driver picked us up just before sunset and drove us downriver for 40 minutes or so, slowly chugging along so we could take in all the sights and sounds of life on the mighty river. It soon became apparent that the Mekong is the lifeblood of the people of Laos. As you look around, there is always someone, although usually a group of people, happily bathing themselves in the river. You can also see lots of the ladies right by the rivers edge scrubbing at clothes, and many hang them out to dry on bambo drying lines along the rivers edge. And then there are the men and boys by the hundreds who are dotted along the rivers edge or out on a small row boat in the middle of the river, all trying to catch some supper. The most striking thing Lee and I noticed was how happy the children seem to be. It is absolutely heartwarming to see so many children all playing so happily without a care in the world. They all have such beaming smiles on their little faces and wave furiously at us when we passed. By the time we got off the boat our arms were stating to feel slightly dead from all the waving we were doing back. I think Lee and I both knew that we would be seeing some different sights, described as 'laid back style of life' when we came to Laos, but this was absolutely amazing for us. The experience I cherish more than anything else from travelling, is just seeing people going about their business in their everyday lives. I love seeing how differently they lead their lives to mine and often wonder if they might be happier with their 'lot' in life than us. Although they have so little in materialistic terms, they seem to have so much in terms of their happiness and wellbeing. It still seems a bit strange seeing an old lady walking up a steep rocky path with a pole with 2 full buckets on either end, but I guess that that is the way these people have always lived. They don't suffer with obesity or the stress of work deadlines. I'm not saying their lives are easy by any stretch of the imagination, but they exude an air of contentedness that is so infrequently seen back home. Lee has been reading one of the Dalai Lama's books since we started on our travels back last year, and he says that more and more of it makes plain sense. I think he might like to try being a Buddhist Monk for a week or so. We have spoken to a few monks since we have been away and they are all so friendly and seem to lead such philosophically contented lives that Lee is getting more and more drawn in by its teachings. I have to say I wholeheartedly agree with most of it too although I'm not sure I'd be prepared to shave my head and become a Buddhist nun!

Yesterday Lee and I chartered another boat, this time to take us to the Kouang Si Waterfall up in the hills in another village. The boat took us once again down the Mekong and then pulled up along the rivers edge when it reached the point where we had to hop off and take a truck the rest of the way. The truck was a big flat bed truck and Lee and I had the option to squash into the front with the driver, or to stand up in the back and hang on like the locals do. Of course we opted for the latter option figuring that although it might seem a little dangerous if it were the UK, the amount of traffic you see over here is absolutely minimal, and because a lot of the roads are not completely sealed, the drivers have to drive really slowly. We held on tight and loved the feeling of being so free, hot wind in our faces, perfect all round view of all the beautiful countryside we were being driven through. We reached the waterfall just before lunchtime and stopped to buy some bbq'd chicken and sticky rice to take with us for a picnic by the falls. We had a brief swim in the freezing, but stunning lower pool but it was fairly crowded with other tourists and so we asked our boat driver to take us to another quieter spot. Singh soon had us marching up some steep hills and through bits of forest with small tracks. He reached a point where he started to actually walk up the waterfall itself but I said to Lee there was no way I would be able to do that. I'm not very sure footed at the best of times, but wearing just flip flops and trying to climb up a raging waterfall was another issue. We convinced Singh that a spot we had passed back down the path a bit was suitable, and so made our way back there and then tucked into our little picnic. It was lovely to then just spend an hour sat by the stunning spot just taking it in and relaxing with our books for an hour. We headed back later that afternoon with big smiles on our faces from the lovely day we'd had.

We leave Luang Prabang tomorrow for Vang Vieng which is where we hope to go tubing.

Photo's from this blog to follow shortly, til then, .......