The coach journey was amazing and beautiful, so high up, if you have never seen Loas countryside, google it, it has to be one of the most beautiful countries on this earth! We drove past lots of villages which were mainly bamboo huts placed on the edge of the road right on the edge of a cliff!! Lots of chickens, pigs and naked kids running around those. Once it got dark though it was pretty scary as the road is not lit and is on the edge of very very high hills, they are very windey and tight when two cars pass, the driver had a guy standing behind him watching what he was doing all the way. We finally got to Luang Prabang bus station at 9pm and we were so glad! We had been on the bus for 27 hours with about 2 toilet stops and no food stops! Every time we were supposed to get off like at the border no one told us!

We piled into a tuk tuk with the other backpackers and were very happy that we had pre booked out hostel, as the others had not and we knew it was hard to find rooms here from what other people had told us. When we got to our hostel we were delighted, the room was really nice, it was really posh, it had a shower like a millionaire would have, a capsule with music, lights, all different jets and settings! The hostel was not cheap at about $20 a night though. We went to have a walk around and found a lovely little place to have a sandwich(this would be the start of our love affair with the Loas baguette sandwich!) and tasted our first Beerlao, yum yum! Then we went to bed as there is a midnight curphew here due to it being quite a holy buddist place.

The next day we got up and had our breakfast in the hostel, there was an outside seating area overlooking the Nam Khan River which was stunning! We had a choice of cheese baguette, egg baguette, and other baguettes, we knew then we were going to get fat eating all this white bread! We asked the very friendly owners if they could do our washing as we had no clothes left clean, something you have to get used to, we just kept washing the armpits in the sinks the whole way through our trip!

We walked into town along the Nam Khan river, a lovely walk and saw the famous bamboo bridge which you can pay to go on and then pottered around the town which can be described as atmospheric, there is such a good vibe and feel here, it is nice weather, very sunny but not overly warm or humid, the buildings are mostly old french colonial and the people are nice but not pushy at all. We had a beer by the mekong river over the other side of town and watched the ferry boat taking mopeds and trucks over the river and saw monks in their orange robes riding on long thin boats. Luang Pranbang is a world heritage town and we knew we would be very happy here, it is gorgeous! A must see place for sure.We stopped in another bar and tried local laolao whiskey which was clear in colour, made from god knows what and very strong!!! We were a tad tipsy(oh dear in the middle of the day!) We strolled back to the hostel and had a beer again, this is the life!!! Ash then had to take a nap and Beck stayed out watching kids playing in the river and trying to nosy at the very posh huge white colonial houses over the other side of the river.

That night we headed out just before sunset and went for tea in one of the outdoor restaurants overlooking the Mekong, we got a stunning view of the sun setting over the hills in the background with the Mekong river far below, pherhaps one of the most breathtaking views we have both ever seen. Beck had fell in love with this place in less than one day! Ash had fried rice and Beck had Chicken in bamboo leaves which was all mushed up and was pretty much food poisoning on a plate so she didnt eat it! We decided to treat ourselves to pudding and Beck had sticky rice yum yum!!! We of course also had a couple beers during the meal! by the time it was dark all the restaurants were lit with hundreds of fairy lights.

We went to the Laolao garden bar for a cocktail which is the most pretty bar ever to exist, lots of lights, lanterns, candles, very cosy and all outside in a garden! Then we noticed one of the bars next door was showing a Stoke City FC match so we went to watch that, in the end we did not watch the game at all, as the Dutch guy, Remco, and Craig from the bus turned up and we decided to get hammered and talk all night about out travel experiences and lives. Bec got a bit depressed when Remco said that in Holland women do not have to work if they don't want to as couples can live off one wage! If only it could be that way in England! He was shocked that in England both parents have to work to live and provide for their kids. At some point we realised it was past curphew as there was no one in the streets and all the other bars had shut, it turned out it was a guys birthday and he must be the owners son, they must have paid the police to let them stay open as he seemed quite rich and told us all about how they sent him to the US for his education. We eventually walked home at 2am, very drunk and we tried to be very quiet in the streets, we had to knock to get in our hostel as they had locked up at curphew, oooops!

The next day we had a lazy day wandering, buying a few things, and eating. We ate sandwiches, pizzas, steak for tea, oh dear Laos is definately gonna make us fat! We had to look for another place to stay, as we had only booked two nights in the other and luckily the owners brother had a hostel next door which had a room for us free for the next two nights! It was lovely and clean, big with two big double beds and in an old charachteristic building with open air wooden verandahs leading to the rooms and white washed walls.

We pretty much spent the next day being lazy too, although we did book the bus to Vang Vieng and a trip to the Waterfall(productive?!). We also ate pancakes on pancake day for tea! We discovered the night market and the food market which was out of this world. The food market is down a narrow alleyway with food stalls both sides, it is very hot and crowded and the ladies wave sticks with carrier bags tied on the end to wave off flies. Ash ate a chicken BBQ steak which was massive with a buffet of side dishes, rice, noodles, veggies, spring rolls, all for 80p! The chicken was cooked on stick, very authentic! The market has so many stalls, selling lots of bright and colourful things, bags, purses, clothes, souvenirs, paintings, Bec loved it and wanted to wander for hours. Bec bought a bright bag for 3 pounds and we bought some more braceles to add to our collections on our wrists. It was a hippy haven,and Ash bought some hareem pants for 2 pounds! Bec bought some but they were a bit dearer as they were silky and brightly patterned!

On the last day we got ready for our trip to the kuang si waterfalls. Bec made the mistake of taking her malaria tablet before breakfast which made her quite violently sick but we thought that must be a good thing as we had brought them in Thailand and many drugs sold to tourists are fake, so if they made her sick like the real ones do, then they must be real?! The bus ride there was all flat and not on a cliff edge which was good. We did go over a few dodgy wooden river bridges though! The woodland walk to the river was really pretty and took you through a bear sanctuary which was cool. When we got to the waterfalls we were quite shocked at how blue they are, they are stunning and Ash had a couple gos on a rope swing. We swam and took lots of photos, the water was cool and fresh but there were fish trying to suck your skin off in there. We walked around and swam in various pools along the way, it was a lovely afternoon. We then spent the evening wandering again through the market and town before heading back early to pack up our bags for our next stop, the much anticipated Vang Vieng!