Hello again!

I left you this morning when we were sitting in Joma, the cafe at 7.30am. We stayed in the cafe until 10am, just chatting, reading and writing. We met a nice lady from Brisbane who we spoke to for a bit. She said her home wasn't affected by the recent floods but her workplace was (but she didn't mind because she gets to go on holiday). At 10am we decided to have another go at finding a hostel.

Luckily the second place we asked had a room, so we just went for it because we were so tired. We are sharing a king sized bed between three for 50,000 kip each (about 3.80GBP - can't work out the pound sign on this keyboard). We dumped our stuff and had a shower, and because there are free computers with internet we decided to make the most of it. The internet isn't particularly fast but Vix uploaded some photos from Bangkok (see Facebook, Victoria Sutherland). I wanted to upload some but I don't have an SD card reader and Vicky has a Canon camera so if I put my SD card in her camera and use her cable, for some reason it can't be read. When I see somewhere I am going to buy an SD card reader so that I can upload my photos along the way, rather than doing hundreds when I get home. There's free tea, coffee and bananas in the hostel too which is quite a perk.

We then went for a wander down the road to book our bus to Vientiane for tomorrow morning. We paid 145,000 kip (about 11GBP) each for the bus and a Tuk Tuk transfer from our guesthouse to the bus station. The bus station isn't in town because Luang Prabang is a UNESCO world heritage site. This means that all of the main roads bypass the town, and trucks and lorries aren't allowed in, which keeps the town quiet and stops it from being developed too much. We had some noodles and soup from a lady on the street and looked at a few temples. They were charging to enter though so we didn't go in any as we have seen quite a few. There are monks walking around everywhere in Luang Prabang, I like their orange robes - we saw some hanging out to dry outside a temple.

We had read that Luang Prabang is a good place to get a massage, so we treated ourselves! Vicky and I had head, neck and shoulders, but they also did our whole backs and a spent a little while on our legs, and Vix had a foot and leg massage, but also got some back time thrown in. We paid 25,000 kip (1.90GBP) each for half an hour - it was amazing! The oil they used was lemongrass and it smelt so lovely. I could have easily had a whole hour - I'm really glad we did that. I'd quite like to do it again, maybe on the islands if I have any money left!

I was feeling really homesick today, I think partly because I was shattered from a 12 hour bus journey, and from tomorrow we have at least another 24 hours worth of bus journeys to get to Vietnam. The buses are quite expensive in comparison to living, so I was just feeling like I was spending all my money to sit on buses from place to place rather than actually seeing the places. I think once we get to Vietnam we should be able to spend a couple of nights in each city though, and we have a total of nine nights on all of the islands which should be really nice as it will mainly be sunbathing, relaxing, swimming and just taking in the scenery. A holiday from a holiday! I keep getting waves of homesickness and then feeling fine a few hours later - I'm not sure if it will start to go away once a few more weeks has passed. Maybe Australia will be easier because it is Westernised. I do really like all of the culture and the places here, it is beautiful, but when I'm missing home it is made worse by a dirty toilet you have to squat over or a man following you down the street saying 'Tuk Tuk!' - things which wouldn't happen at home. It is probably that coupled with knowing I'm away for so long - if I was only here for four or six weeks I would be absolutely fine, especially after being away at Disney. Luckily all of the guesthouses we have stayed in have been really clean and the staff have been really friendly which is good. The massage definitely made me feel better today as well!

I know part of the homesickness comes from having a boyfriend at home, but he is really encouraging me to do this which is definitely a good thing. I am loving it 85% of the time and in the other 15% he reminds me how lucky I am to be here and how I'd always regret not doing it. I've also never been the type to let boys get in the way of me having fun with my friends or doing things I want to do, so there's no way I'd seriously consider coming home (unless I run out of money and have no other choice!). I'd definitely rather be with Ed and miss him than not be with him at all!

We came back to our room for an hour or so and I chatted to a couple of New Zealand guys we met on the bus for a few minutes. I went on the internet again and could hear some American old guy playing the guitar, he was pretty good but quite annoying. He was going on about how much he knew about the world, and how the song 'Yesterday' like totally speaks to him man. We got changed and headed out again to sample the night market.

I wasn't planning on buying anything, but I ended up buying gifts for the whole family! I managed to find things which were less breakable than the things I saw the other day in Chiang Mai, so they should be able to fit in my backpack and fingers crossed be okay until I get home. I felt bad spending money but there is no way I can come back after 5 months with no gifts, and South East Asia is probably the place to buy them! I could have easily bought things for my entire extended family and all of my friends, but unfortunately I had to draw the line somewhere if I am going to afford to get any further than Singapore! I will send postcards though, promise!

Vicky and I lost Vix because we all kept stopping at different stalls, so we bought a fruit smoothie and waited for her near the entrance. The fruit is chopped up and put in plastic cups in different combinations, and you pick which combination you want. The lady puts it in a blender with some coconut milk and voila, you get an amazing and hopefully healthy smoothie. I had pineapple and banana which was really nice, and they were only 5,000 kip (38p), so all three of us have bought one for breakfast tomorrow morning and put it in the fridge in our guesthouse reception.

We are back at the hostel now, and it is only 9.45pm. We have an early start tomorrow though as we are being picked up at 7.10am, so it's probably a good job that we aren't out an about tonight. It's really hard to budget with all of these different currencies - Baht in Thailand, Dollars at the Borders, Kip in Laos, Dong in Vietnam and Riel or Dollars in Cambodia. It is so easy to lose track of what we are spending, so I might make a budget for the rest of South East Asia and only have that in my current account so I can't spend any more! Hopefully it works!

I'm going to put my PJs on now and chill out for a bit I think - will be travelling tomorrow night most probably so look out for a couple of updates at onces in two or three days!

Sorry for the homesickness moan earlier - I know thousands of people do this every year, and I am actually having an amazing time despite what it may have sounded like! I am also missing my family, friends and cats loads as well, not just Ed, promise! I definitely don't miss the cold weather though!

xxx