Arriving in the capital of Laos we felt a little like we were back in Bangkok.. very built up and lots of traffic again! We were dropped off in a random street and had no idea where our hostel was, but luckily found it after my ears pricked up at the sound of a British lad who happened to be staying there thankfully! Straight away our hostel came across as a very chilled and sociable place with lots of backpackers coming and going, and we were very enthusiastical...

7 hours later and THE most horrendous journey on the most rickety old local bus I've ever been on we arrived at the 'bus station' of Vangvieng. We originally weren't going to come here, as a lot of people had slated it and said it wasn't a particularly great place... soon after arriving we had no idea why people had said this. Although not a huge town, the main street was alive and restaurants busy, and there was a really laid back feel to the place, which we lov...

A 10 minute ride in a tuk tuk and we arrived at our next hostel. Once we'd checked in we headed out with the girls to explore the town and grab some food... a buffet of battered bread, pumpkin, aubergene, salad, pasta and rice all heated up in a wok - strange!! We went to the Luang Prabang night market which is lovely and has a lot of handicrafts, but is far too long. We made friends with 2 more English girls, Stef and Emma, and the next day the 6 of us (poor Lei...

A long-tail wooden boat consisting of 2 rows of coach seats, 1 (stinky) European toilet and 80 people to share between.. this was to be our transportation down the long windy Mekong river for 2 days! After 5 hours of numb bums, lots of waves, not much wildlife to look at, and a dozen stops to drop off locals and TV's alongside the river, we arrived in Pak Beng, another tiny little village - a place where you have to keep your wits about you as little kids have th...