23/11/09 Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang

We packed our bags and bought bacon rolls for the journey to Luang Prabang. We got a tuk tuk to take us to the main bus station where we boarded a bigger bus for the journey. Tom and Emer were on the same bus too and the bus was so full that the aisle was completely full of backpacks and suitcases. If we had had an accident we would have been unable to get off past all the bags !!! The driver made a stop after about an hour and everyone clambered out over the bags for a quick 20 minute break. After another hour and a half he stopped again so we could get some lunch. We all bought fresh rolls with tuna, cheese or chicken and salad. The bread rolls here are fantastic fresh cooked baguettes stuffed with salad and another filling of your choice. We have eaten loads of them...all good for the hips, yummy!! We got ourselves a pack of pineapple too which we have also been eating stacks of. The journey to Luang Prabang was really picturesque as the journey took us up into the mountains and past some beautiful views across the Laos countryside. We arrived into Luang Prabang which was a much bigger place then Vang Vieng as its Laos second biggest city. We drove into town in a tuk tuk and jumped out near to the center of town where there were many guesthouses. A man approached us to show us a guesthouse he knew and we went with him to take a look. The rooms were 80 (8 pounds) Baht with a TV and 60 ( 6 pounds) Baht without. The TV rooms were much nicer so we all decided to take the TV rooms. As soon as we got into the room we realised it had no TV and the man at reception changed the price up to 100 Baht without TV and 120 Baht with. The boys weren't very impressed and we all packed up and left to check into the hotel opposite for a compromise price of 90 Baht. Once we were checked in we all went into the town to get some food which was onlty about a minutes walk away. Luang Prabang is a really petty town with masses of French influence in the buildings. The main street is lined with resturants and bars and all have lights and lanterns outside so its very pretty. We had a nice meal in one of them after walking through the night market to find the ATM. The night market is quite big selling all sorts of really good handicrafts and we spotted a duvet cover we liked there.There was also an amazing cake stall selling all kinds of really tasty sounding cakes..amazingly Phil resisted temptation for a few minutes anyway until the banana cake got the better of him. After our dinner we went to find another bar for a drink. We found one with a log burner which was perfect as it gets chilly at night. We stayed there until it closed and then tok a tuk tuk ride out to Luang Prabangs only late bar at the local bowling alley. As its mentioned in Lonely Planets quite a few people were there and Liz did her usual latching on trick and blagged us some space on a lane with only three others on it. They were three tourists from Canada and Isreael and we only played one game before they left us to it. We played another few games and Tom won overall with Liz coming last before we made our way back to the guesthouse at about 3am !!

24/11/09 Luang Prabang

We woke up at about 10.30am and strolled around to the Mekong river just behind our guesthouse. We looked in a few tour shops to get prices for transport into Thailand and a trekking tour we wanted to do. Our options to travel to Thailand are 1: A 24 hr bus ride 2: a two day boat followed by a 6 hour bus or 3: A one hour plane.....guess which option we took!!! While in one of the travel shops there was a commotion on the banks of the river. People were shouting ad running to look and it turned out that a tuk tuk had fallen in the water from a ferry (two longtails with a wooden platform between.) The two people on it had fallen in and one couldn't swim so there was a panic to get him out, fortunately both were pulled out but the tuk tuk didn't fair so well. We had a bite to eat overlooking the river then went to a few more tour shops unil we found a trek that suited us. We booked the trek and the plane tickets there then went back to the room to sort out some laundry and change. We went for a wander through the gorgeous night market which Lizzies mum and sister would have really loved and bought two paper lamp shades which might make it home in one piece. We were going to climb to the top of Phousi hill in the center of town to see the sunset and on the way wee bumped into Tom and Emer munching on cake stall cakes. We went about half way up and stopped to see the sunset there as the view was pretty good. We went back to the hotel for a little while then went back out to get some food. We went to the bars along the other river through Luang Prabang called the Nam Khan and called into the Hive bar. We all had pizza which came with free beers and stayed there for a couple more. It was very trendy there with some great music and really modern decor too. We were all pretty tired and so didn't stay too long before going back to bed.

25/11/9 Luang Prabang

We had decided to get up early to see one of Luang Prabangs famous sights, the Buddhist monks collecting alms. We got up at 5.30 and went to the main road in town for 6am. A long procession of monks walks through the town each morning and collect food and other offerings from tourists and religious followers. It was a bit of a circus really but interesting to see. There were a group of Thai monks visiting Laos on holiday and they were all taking photos just like the tourists which seemed really strange. We got chatting to them and ended up in their holiday photos as they were as fascinated with us as we were with them. We all went back to bed for a bit then met up at 9 to go for breakfast before going on a tour to see a Buddha cave and waterfall together. We had a nice breakfast in the Scandinavian Bakery which had the best croissants then went bacvk to the guesthouse where they had arranged a tuk tuk for us. The first place we were visiting was Pak Ou cave famous as a Buddhist shrine about an hours drive out of town. It was a really scenic drive to Pak Ou and we got to see alot of the area we wouldn't otherwise have. When we arrived at Pak Ou village we took a short stroll down to the river where the view was really breathtaking. We jumped onto a long tail and crossed over the river to the cave entrance, it is only accessible on the water. There are two caves there and we saw both. The upper level cave is quite deep and dark with hundreds of old Buddha statues left there by pilgrims. It is the place where Buddhists come to clean their statues in holy water too. It was all a bit odd really but we went down to look in the lower cave which was more open and lighter but still with hundreds of Buddha statues. We left the caves and went back to the other side on the longtail where we bumped into the Thai monks again who greeted us with big beaming smles. We got back into the tuk tuk to travel back to town and out in the other direction to see one of the areas biggest waterfalls the Kuang Si waterfall. We arrived in the small town next to the waterfall and stopped to have a Laos sandwich roll before going into the park. Before we reached the waterfall we passed through the Kuang Si Bear rescue center which is home to many rescued Asiatic Bears. They are large black bears with a white crescent shaped crest on their chests and are also known as Moon Bears. They had been rescued from illegal traders who use the bears to take their bile. Th bears are kept in tiny cages and have the bile drained from them through a tube into their abdomens...horrible. Its used in Chinese medicines. The 19 bears were so cute and playful with fantastic enclosures. They had plenty of room and lots to entertain them with climbing frames, tyres ropes, food hidden inside things and lots of big slings to sleep in. We spent ages watching them before we went off to see the waterfall. The park where the waterfall is, is really lovely with seating areas and changing rooms for people who want to swim. (There is a guy in this internet shop on Skype who obviously thinks he needs to shout to his home country so apologise if I get a bit distracted and make no sense !!!) When we first saw the waterfall it was breathtaking as the water was such an amazing colour. It was cascading through many levels with lots of pools for prople to swim. It was getting late and a bit cool for us to swim but we really enjoyed just taking in the view. We walked a little further along the path and came top an ening where there was a waterfall with over 200 meter drop. It was so beautiful, we were really pleased we had been to see it. We all agreed it was the best waterfall any of us had ever seen. It was about 6pm when we got back to the tuk tuk and all the bears had been taken in for the night. When we reached the tuk tuk our enterprising driver had loaded on the mounitain bikes of four tourists to give them a ride to town for some extra money! We jumped out of the tuk tuk near the night markets and went for a wander through. We all went for a curry which was very good then went for a quick night cap in the bar with the warm stove then went to bed. It had been a good day.

26/11/09 We awoke to go on our 3 day trekking tour and we were ready to go waiting outside the guesthouse for the tour guide. After about half an hour Phil went to the tour office to see where he was and then a chap arrived and apologised tio Liz for being late. Apparently the guesthouse we were in was new so noone knew where we were staying. We were a bit worried as we'd booked a cab with the same company to the airport when we got back from the trek. Anyway we met our guide, Kor who was a young Laos guy with very good English. He got us mountain bikes to ride for the first part of the trek and we set off after making sure the tour office knew where we were staying. We had a 10km cycle to start the day through town then along some unsealed roads through roadworks to the first stop, Elephant camp. There we met a few elephants feeding then climbed aboard a large male callled Bun Sou for a ride in the forest. He was 45 years old and a retired logging elephant. We rode along for about 20 minutes through the forest up and down some steep sections and crossed a main road. After a short time the mahout gestured to us to swap seats with him so Phil clambered forwards and sat around the elephants neck. He putr his feet behind his ears ( the elephants!!) then shouted instructions for left, right and forwards. Phil rode there for a while then Liz sat at the front. We walked through more forest and through a river where Bun Sou had a drink then uphill back to the camp. It was great fun to sit at the front of the elephant but a bit uncomfortable as his shoulders hit your bum!! We carried on cycling for another hour up a really long steep hill where Liz looked like a beetroot at the top. At a small village we stopped to eat some fried rice for lunch while chatting to the store owner . She wanted some English words to welcome people into the shop so we taught her a bit of English. It was quite a giggle as she tried to pronounce the words correctly. After that we went to the nearby river to catch a longtail to the opposite bank to start our walk. We went about a kilometer upstream then started to walk along some fields. We asked Kor how far we were walking and he said another thirty kilometers and we were pleased to realise he'd actually said thirteen!!! Kor told us to be on the lookout for snakes as there were alot in Laos much to Phils pleasure. We walked along many narrow paths, through some lovely forest areas , beside rice fields and saw giant milipedes and lots of butterflies. The terrain was pretty good underfoot, not too steep or slippery. Phil and Kor crossed a wide stream on a log while Liz waded through instead. We shortly passed a group of local hunters all carrying home made guns, out to find rats, birds or squirrels to shoot for their food. Phil wanted to take a photo but the guns are illegal so the men said no. We came to a really small village in a remote hillside area where there were more hunters with guns and all the people came out to see the westerners !! The H'mong village was very small and basic with no water or electricity to it, with about ten wooden huts on stilts there. It was all very picturesque but the life must be pretty hard for the families who live there. We carried on walking for about another hour and after a few ups and downs we arrived in the village where we were staying for the first night. We had spent the last half hour following some villagers along who were carrying huge sacks of rice on their heads!! Tescos seems so far away!! We walked through the middle of the village where a handful of other trekkers were sat watching the local teenagers playing a football type game over a high volleyball net with a rattan ball. There were lots of children around all giggling and playing together. Kor took us to the home we would be staying at and we were shown to our room for the night which was a wooden hut with a double mattress and mossie net inside...perfect!! We dropped of our bags, changed into some cleaner clothes and went to watch the activities in the village. It had a school , shops( hatches into houses selling some foods and other small supplies)The village was quite big with about 80 families living there and loads of children everywhere. The smaller children were playing with a few home made toys while the older girls were generally helping with rice crushing and grinding near their homes. Kor joined the locals playing football until he disappeared to make us some food for supper. It went dark pretty quickly so we went to eat our food of sticky rice and chicken and vegetables. Liz mixed her rice into the meat and veg which we discovered later was a complete no no!! After dinner the owner of the house where wew ere staying pulled up some chairs at his fire one of many lit around the village. Many local came by to say hello and have a quick peep at us all with ready smiles. Kor joined us then went off to buy us a chicken for the next days lunch. He was unsuccessful on his first try but went off again with a local and returned with a large cockerel who looked very relaxed for a bird about to be killed!!!