Imagine the worst bus journey possible and your pretty close to what we both experienced from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. Supposedly a VIP bus -there was little that made us feel important! Nevertheless we arrived safely in this UNESCO Heritage town, the first thing that struck us about the town was the French 'feel' the former colony certainly had not shaken its French tag. From streets lined with bakeries and patisseries to the stunning French architecture, you almost forgot you were in Laos! We found an amazing hostel and headed out, it was early evening so we decided to head for the famed night market, it was the first real bit of shopping we did and one of us certainly spent there fair share (I'll let you guess who!) we stumbled across an all you can eat buffet and for less than a pound you could fill your bowl and have the contents fried by the chef - Uncle Al, you would have loved it! The second day consisted of various museums and temples, including the royal palace museum and a textile and hill tribe museum, our personal favourite however was the UXO (unexploded ordinance device) museum, Laos is the most bombed country in the world per capita with over 240 million tonnes being dropped during the Vietnamese war between the north and south which America decided to get involved with, fascinating but devastating. We spent a total of 5 days here and also visited the famous Kuang Si waterfalls - although you couldn't stay too long in there once the garra rufa fish started to have a good nibble on your toes - we also watched the famous sunset from Mount Phousi, enjoyed a night out spending time at The Zen they call Utopia which ended with a game of ten pin bowling -meeting some amazing friends, and on the morning of our departure got up in time to watch the monks daily alms giving ceremony, an unbelievable thing to have witnessed first hand. We both agree this has probably been our favourite place so far and would love to return here in the future. Next stop Vang Vieng!!