The bus stopped at a nice picturesque café just after sunrise where we had a quick tea and coffee whilst filling out immigration forms. The border crossing was straightforward – we paid $35 each for our visa and from here we changed buses for the short drive to Vientiane. We were dropped off at the main square and from here checked into a nice but cheap guest house – Soukchaleun Guest House. Tired from the journey, I switched on the TV to find the Sandra Bullock rom/com ‘The Proposal’ just about to start so decided why not? – so we got comfy and decided to watch it.

After being completely overblown by the surprise ending of the film (they fall in love, oops sorry I’ve spoilt it!) we went out for breakfast/lunch. At a small stall just down the road from the guest house we had our first sandwich since Australia – a very nice chicken baguette to share. Our guide book states that sticky rice is the custom food of Laos, but we discovered that sandwiches are far more accessible than sticky rice, as there are sandwich stalls on every corner.

For half a century, Laos was a French colony, and to this day still retains its French charm. As we explored Vientiane we admired some of the very French architecture and stopped to eye up the tempting windows of the patisseries. After walking up and down a few streets we came to a very large statue of some important dude who looked out onto the Mekong River. It was extremely hot so Emma and I decided that we should sample the local beer – Beer Laos. We had only one beer whilst in Thailand as the Thailand beer isn’t really that cheap, of course cheaper than home but we’re still on a budget! Thankfully Beer Laos was more in Indonesia’s price range so we could enjoy a nice cold beer without feeling guilty.

Returning to our room, Emma and I both felt a little ill, and put it down the malaria tablets we had taken early in the morning (although we felt fine whilst taking them in Indonesia). It was probably just tiredness. Anyway, after a couple of hours we were a little peckish despite still not feeling good so we went out for another sandwich. This time we had one each – very nice sandwiches!

The next morning we were up early and had a croissant from a small supermarket/patisserie and set off for the morning market. The market was mostly jewellery, fabric and electricals. Another market was close by, the Khua Din market which had more variety but nothing of any real interest to us. We walked to the Victory Monument (Patuxay) which despite being unfinished (it looked finished to us) was very impressive and grand. It’s basically looks a lot like the Arc de Triomphe with a temple on the top.

Next day – Wednesday 27th April – I got up early to bring back croissants to the room before we had to wait in reception for our pick up to Vang Vieng. As expected, the mini-bus was nearly an hour late and we set off from Vientiane at 9.50am. We arrived in Vang Vieng 3 hours later and had a look around a few guest houses before deciding to stay at a place called Melany Villa.

After dropping off our backpacks we went out for lunch and to have a look around Vang Vieng. It was quite touristy with most of the tourists being young kids. The place still had a chilled vibe to it though which was nice and it is beautifully set in a backdrop of hills, but it reminded us a bit too much of typical party holiday destinations such as Magaluf and Ayia Napa.

The following morning was very dull and rainy but cleared in the afternoon so we decided to go ‘tubing’ – floating down the Nam Xong on huge tractor inner-tubes. We enjoyed some fabulous views and there were just enough tiny rapids to keep us going along, although there were times when it was a struggle. Most of the way along the river there are bars with people standing outside trying to wave you in, especially at the very start of the trip with 3 or 4 very packed bars succeeding to get just about everyone beginning the tubing trip in for a drink. Anyway, we bypassed all of these bars and made it to the finishing point at 5.40pm, taking us just under 3 hours. Good timing too as in order to get our deposit back we had to have the tubes back by 6pm. Most people don’t make it as far as we did and never get back for 6pm. We felt quite proud!

On Friday, we had a bit of a lie in watching some of the build up to the Royal Wedding on our small TV in our room. We went out for lunch and enjoyed a nice walk to the river towards the hills behind the town. We started to follow a path to a cave but turned around after a while as there was no indication how far the cave was. The sun was blazing and we didn’t have enough sun cream on so we thought this was a wise decision.

As we started to walk back to the town, the weather suddenly changed and we knew we didn’t have long before the rain started. We rushed back but just before we approached the bridge that took us back into the town, the rain started to fall hard and we ended up getting drenched. Back at the guest house we had to strip off before going to our room as we were soaked. After showering we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in our room watching the Royal Wedding. What a splendid wedding it was.

Luang Prabang was our next destination in Laos. Emma and I were picked up from our Vang Vieng guest house at 10am and enjoyed a lovely journey with some beautiful views, especially at an eating area where we shared a baguette sandwich for lunch. Once in Luang Prabang we found a nice cheap place to stay – Sisombuth Guesthouse, before heading out for a walk. We thought we were walking to the night market but we went the wrong way and ended up in a posh area of Luang Prabang with large houses and posh hotels.

Next morning we were up early to explore the city. We walked the main road through to the city towards the river, stopping for breakfast en route. As with what we had already seen in Laos, Luang Prabang again had a very relaxed vibe. The city boasts lots of nice French style buildings, bakeries and cafes. The Mekong River runs through Laos and there is a nice road that we walked which just runs alongside the river.

In the evening, Emma and I (going the right way this time) visited the night market. The market ran along the main road and had a great atmosphere. It mainly consisted of fabrics.

On Monday we went to a smaller market that was on during the day (mainly stalls selling sandwiches and fruit juices). We shared a sandwich for lunch and then organised a share tuk tuk to Kuangsi Waterfall. It took roughly 40 minutes for the tuk tuk to arrive at the falls. As Emma and I started to walk to the falls we came to a bear rescue centre which was really cool. We carried on walking and came to a pool with a small waterfall which looked amazing for swimming. We decided to walk to the top to the main waterfall, on the way passing other pools great for swimming. The main waterfall was very impressive and after admiring it for a bit we headed back down to have a swim in one of the pools.

Back in the city we went to a restaurant for a beer and shared a yummy rice dish. Our intention was to wait for the night market to start but decided to give it a miss as we were too tired.

Next morning we walked to town, stopping at a travel agent to book a slow boat to the Thai border of Houayxai. Whilst in Luang Prabang we had shopped around to find the cheapest price and this place we discovered to be the cheapest. In town we went to a café for a croissant and a tea each before returning to our guest house.

Whilst at the guest house we had a phone call from the man at the travel agent whom we booked the slow boat with. He explained that he had charged us the wrong amount and that we had to pay an extra 200,000 kip (£15.50). Emma explained over the phone that we could get the boat cheaper elsewhere and if they can’t match that price then we would like to cancel. The man said they couldn’t do it for the same price and that if we cancel we would be charged 20,000 kip.

We walked back to the office and the man was very adamant that he wasn’t going to give us all of our money back and wouldn’t accept that he gave us the wrong information. However, although 20,000 kip is only about £1.50 there was no way I was leaving the office without getting the full amount we paid back. After about 40 minutes trying to reason with the guy and remaining calm I eventually got a bit sick and lost my rag a little bit. Anyway, standing up towering over the man and raising my voice seemed to do the trick as we walked out of the office with all of our money.

At the night market that evening we discovered a little alleyway that had stalls all the way down offering a buffet selection for 10,000 kip. We shared a plate cramming as much as we could on to the plate. After food, we had another look around the market, this time Emma treating herself to a pretty bag and a lamp shade.

On Wednesday we were up early for the tuk tuk to pick us up to take us to the pier at 7.45am. By 8.30, however, there was still no tuk tuk. By about 9, a man arrived at the guest house and told us they had written down the name of a different guest house with a similar name and unfortunately we had missed the boat. They do say when travelling expect the unexpected and I guess these things happen. We checked back into the guest house, this time in a different cheaper room and just spent the day making use of the free wi-fi to update the blog. In the evening we returned to the night market for another buffet meal.

In the morning, as arranged with the man from the day before, we were picked up at 8am. When we arrived at the long boat we departed at 8.30 on the dot. The seats were quite comfortable and it was a lot nicer than we were expecting. We arrived in Pakbeng around 6pm which was our stopover for the night as the long boats don’t travel after dark.

The journey to Pakbeng was amazing. Some of the sights we got to see included water buffalo grazing by the river, children playing in the river, women washing dishes and men fishing. The boat also stopped at a few local traditional villages to pick people up.

It was raining heavily when the boat arrived at Pakbeng. We walked up a steep hill to the town with rain water rapidly flowing down. We went into the first guest house we came to and got a good price for the night. We had a short walk up the road but it was all guest houses and restaurants. Pakbeng is basically just a stopover for tourists halfway between Houayxai and Luang Prabang.

The next day we boarded another long boat to continue our journey to Houayxai. Again, we were treated to another day full of wonderful views. The journey along the Mekong River is definitely one of our travel highlights.

A few backpackers we have met along our travels had mentioned that Laos was very under-developed, but from the places we had visited, we really didn’t get this impression. The main towns had lovely buildings and everywhere seemed to be much cleaner than some other places we’ve been – Indonesia for example. Of course there are still traditional villages hidden away from the built up areas, many of which we passed on the Mekong River trip. After travelling remote areas of Indonesia, Laos feels more developed. It is still a developing country though so we are glad we travelled it now before it turns into a developed country like Thailand.

We arrived in Houayxai at about 6pm and went off in search for accommodation. There wasn’t much around where the boat dropped us but we managed to find somewhere with a room for 40,000 kip (£3). We had a walk to the town centre where we found lots of guest houses but we doubted whether we could have found a cheaper one than what we were paying. We had a really nice pizza each and shared a beer before returning to our room.

Emma and I were up very early the following morning as we were unsure of bus times in Thailand. We packed our bags and walked to the centre of town to immigration and then boarded a small boat to take us across the Mekong River to Thailand. This took about 30 seconds and when we were on the other side I regretted not swimming across instead, as I decided it would have been cool to say I’d swam from Laos to Thailand. If only I’d thought of the idea sooner!

Matthew