Stamped up our taxi freedom fighters usher us to a mini van, taking a quick pee seriously irritates the french persons on board (they've been waiting an hour and a half for the bus, whoop de woo). Engaging in that much huffing and puffing over a 15 second hold back cannot be good for your arteries in this heat.

On first appearances it is obvious that Laos is a poorer country than Thailand, but on the flip side one is also made instantly aware of its determination to prevent any form of child/adult sex tourism, one of the former countries biggest incentives for visiting tourists, I know where I put my vote. Our initial stop was for lunch (more huffing and puffing from the stressed ones) where there was vegetable soup, well I should say 1 vegetable soup, didn't realise cabbage and broth could go quite so well as a meal. They were slaughtering a goat behind the restaurant - must have had a big order come in - and we soon learnt from our smiling friends 'we eat anything we can, always!' Not a problem, fresher food than maccers I'm sure but not a pleasant sight before dining.

Northern Laos towns are small with a dusty feel to them, they are pressed upon by vivid green jungles that show that nature is lurking a few minutes drive away. From the outskirts of town the road is frequented by clusters of stilted wooden houses, cooking wood and animals are kept in the gap between floor and living area, just alongside sits the occasional metalic-red shiny moped and satellite dish crucial for the ever important 'Euro football.' Satellite dish are cheap in Thailand so needless to say one crossed the border and sat amongst us in the mini van.

Biking through the protected Namtha National Park to local Muang Sing is goregeous. Cultural in the sense that traditional villagers are living their day to day life alongside the roads or cut into the hillsides, growing rice, walking home after a days work out in the fields, chopping logs, children playing with small machetes. I prefer this to a fixed home stay trek, it feels more true to life. Muang Sing itself feels dirty and seedy in comprison to the lush jungle surrounding it. Although noone will claim that the opium trade is still in business you can see poppies being hung up to dry and the people don't seem wholly with it, we catch one woman asleep on her fruit market table, heels tucked behind her bum in the traditional 'high' posture.

A detour allows us to hike into the jungle of the NP, find a waterfall and let me collect 2 leeches... Prue has to burn one off to stop it filling itself on my calf, it didn't seem such a big deal but we definatley had pat down leech checks after the stroll. On route back to 'home' a group of elderly women stopped us in our tracks by sending their children to stand in the way of the bike, they begin tieing bracelets around our wrists while one bare breasted lady tries to take Prues bracelet off her and another grabs at my trousers. Their teeth are stained red from betel nut and they become slightly aggressive as we try to steer our way through. The children, bless them seemed very content with a few energetic high fives. You cannot buy edspite the desperation, we would not want to encourage this type of behaviour, but it is a shame to see them so needy.

Cute and tranquil would aptly describe our accomodation, a wooden structure with one huge glass window overlooking the verandha and some rice fields. Leaving the window uncurtained assures you wake up early as the sun springs into the room. There have been 3 too many cockroaches for my liking though, despite what Prue says they can crawl out of the shower drain, I have proof! We have become addicted to Indian food, well if its a chip and egg breakfast with naan thats still cultural right? Trying to eat ourselves stupid to compensate for all the warnings of food difficulties in China we gorge ourselves on paneers and samosas.

Talking of eating, the bus to China is booked for tomorrow, Ill best be off for the final supper :)

P.s I have become a millionaire 7 times over, thanks to the Kip... think I've emptied the town completely out of Chinese Yuan!