I am up early to pack. I head to mamas for breakfast. A friendly lady with a tiny cafe near the hostel and my seat has a nice view of the mountain. Not much to do here but I will miss the peace in between the lao beer and whiskey (LT). I meet up with Anna and we head to our boat. We bump into Claire and Bobby as well as another German girl called Sarah. The boat is cramped and my arse feels like a new guys first week in prison. Solid wooden seat and legs locked into position. The scenery is beautiful and after a painful hour we swap to a less crowded boat with cushions for seats. Quite frankly brilliant in comparison(LT). It's getting colder the further we move north and the jungle sweeping down the mountains a sight to remember. The driver stops and buys what looks like a large catfish for his dinner. Eventually arriving at Muang Khua, we follow Anna's guidebook and me, Bobby, Claire, Sarah and Anna climb across a rickety old bridge that has seen better days. Slats are missing and planks are creaking as we slowly move over it. We get to a small guesthouse next to the countries complete supply of chickens, along a muddy path. Rooms are cheap at 60000 kip and the view from the common area is the best in town. We sit and have some cold beers enjoying the view. The hostel owner provides a tasty vegetarian dinner of spiced cabbage, omelette , rice and soy sauce in a restaurant area at the side of the guesthouse. He throws in some of the local laos whiskey to go with the dinner. We drink a few lao beers and go looking for a pub. With no lights across the bridge, we have the feeling not much is open here. Luckily there is one next door, larger than it should be for such a quiet town. There is nobody at the bar and the DJ only has Laos music in a small inside area with the bar. We sit in the large courtyard before we find a French bowls area and play until the bar closes at 11:30pm.