Set off on our 2 day boat journey down the Mekong to the Thai border. Had visions of Fla for 2 days but it's actually quite nice. Had a couple of stops on the way, first was a cave where people visit and leave Buddha statues. There were over 4000 at the last count. Second stop was a hill top tribe ( didn't think about the fact that we'd have to climb the hill to get to it). Was very basic living and half of the kids weren't wearing clothes. Stood there for about...

We were threatened that the journey to luang prabang would be bad for windy roads so I handed round the travel sickness tablets. Had a van full of sleeping people the whole way. I love these tablets! Saw a lorry that had fallen down a cliff, they'd been trying to get it up for 3 days. We saw one more failed attempt, scary. We've got a huuuuuge room in the hotel. Both have king sized beds too which is a bit of a luxury. The town looks so nice, went for dinner i...

Arrived in party town! It's yet another tiny town. The 2 streets are lined with bars that have bed like seats and friends on the tv. Had dinner with the gang then hit the buckets of vodka and had a night out in the one bar that stats open till midnight! The town is full of hippy looking travellers and the age range doesn't hit much over 30. On our second day we did what vang vieng us all about, tubing. Have to hire your tubes then get a tuk tuk up river. We kit...

Arrived in Vientienne, which is the capital city of Laos. To give you an idea of the size of such a bustling metropolis, it's somewhere between the size of New Malden and Motspur Park. It is very cute though and has everything you'd need. We were told you haven't been to Laos unless you've visited the Golden Stooper (sp?) temple. I'm sure it's lovely, but I've become a temple snob. It's basically a giant gold temple... But on a Laos scale. Unfortunately Laos was...

On Saturday we set off on our epic 10 hour journey to Laos. Left really early so we could arrive before the border crossing closed. Had lunch at a very local roadside cafe... If you can call it a cafe. We arrived at the border after the most traumatising journey up mountain paths on a bus. If I didn't feel so travel sick I'm sure I would have been stifling screams like the others. The border was a bit of an experience... First we saw a lorry full of caged up ...