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 their hands everywhere.

The accommodation was a pretty nice surprise after the confusion we'd had back in Thailand, as we paid 500 baht to a man 5 hours away who we didn't really understand!! Back on the boat for another 6 hours and we made some travelling fwends who go by the name of Leila and Amy, and are fellow Brits. It was nice to share travelling stories with them. We also witnessed a monk who almost revealed his manhood on camera... a split second later and we would have had the money shot!! Safe to say we were all very amused by this.

Much to everybody on the boat's disbelief, we pulled into the side of the river bank, with a sign telling us we were in Luang Prabang Province, and the steepest little flight of flimsy bamboo steps that nobody wanted to climb up with a bloody big bag on their back! We met another girl called Megan, and luckily all 5 of us were headed for our next hostel.