Day 226- We checked out by 7 as the trip started at 8.30 and we needed to have breakfast and check into a new hotel. We even had time to check out the room we were staying in, the travel agency offered us a room for cheap since we booked a tour through him, it turned out to be really nice with a river view. We walked down to the river with the group and boarded our little boat that would take us upstream. There was a Dutch couple, an Estonian woman and a Czech. It took around 45 minutes to get to the small village where we walked through and up the back into the rice paddies. It was a nice walk where we saw lots of villagers going about their business. Before long we started to gradually climb and enter more jungle terrain where we crossed several rivers and clambered over trees. After an hour of trekking we came to a beautiful little waterfall. It is was about 30 feet high and more of a spout as it was dry season but the pool was still deep and crystal clear. We took a plunge and the icy water was the perfect refreshment after a very sweaty walk. We swirled and twirled in the water for a while then sat on the side and took some time out. It was time to head back following the same route as we did on the way up and in no time at all we were back at the village. No time to stop though and we jumped straight into the kayaks and started to make our way back downstream. Only 20 minutes had passed when the guide told us to head toward the islet in the river. Once we clambered out we realised we were having dinner. a mat was placed under the tree and the guide took out containers of food and we ate Laos style- using our hands to roll up little balls of sticky rice and dip them into the vegetables and other dishes laid out. There was also a mound of deep fried river weed- similar to seaweed but thinner, delicious. It was a lovely feast and all different food which we hadn't tried- perfect. We hopped back into the kayaks and started our two journey back to Nong Khiaw. Along the way there was some small rapids which made the ride a lot more fun- at one point Eve nearly fell out but we managed to control the kayak just in time. As it happened two of the kayaks did capsize but luckily the people who fell out came away with a few bruises only. We stopped for a small break half way down and lay on the shingle beach soaking up some rays. We made it back no problem and had a great day, really enjoyed ourselves! Back at the hotel we had a shower and just popped across the road for dinner getting some more Laos food.

Day 227- A long day of travelling was ahead and unfortunately we couldn't get a direct bus all the way to Vang Vieng, we had to stop in Luang Prabang. So we flagged down a tuk-tuk which took us to the bus station where a local minibus would take us to Luang Prabang. It was a tight squeeze with plenty of make-shift seats, a total of 19 people in the 14 seater. Luckily Eve and I had proper seats and we talked to a Laos man from Vientiane a lot of the way. Five hours later we were dropped off at the Northern bus station and we needed to be at the Southern, so another tuk-tuk connected the two for us and a French lad heading in the same direction. Once at the correct station we went for a bite to eat and bought our tickets. At 2pm the bus left and this was a big coach this time with more comfortable seats and air con. This leg took ten hours bringing us into Vang Vieng for midnight. The entire journey was up and over mountains and we made one short stop midway where we bought a bag crisps until 10pm where it stopped for thirty minutes at a noodle soup joint. So the bus kicked us out at the bus station, naturally it was several km's outside the town so we got yet another tuk-tuk to take us to a hotel. We checked into one and our heads dropped to the pillow within seconds.