We arrived early on the morning to the boarder of Laos, we hardly had any sleep the night before because we'd got the night bus too the boarder town, arriving there at about 4am and we had to be up at 8 to cross the boarder. after having our photos taken we headed across the Mekong to laos. once we went through immigrations in Laos we got a tuk tuk to the slow boat. It took 2 days on the slow boat to get to our destination, Luang Parbang. We did have then option for a little more to get the fast boat. if you decided to get the fast boat you were equipped with a helmet and life jacket, it was apparently slightly dangerous. we opted for the slow boat so we could save our money and possibly lives. We arrived on the boat and sat in front of 2 English guys we'd met on a bus journey in Thailand. They were two middle aged guys on a 3 week trip around Thailand and Laos. They were enjoying a bottle of Laos whisky and vodka. Me and Adam talked to them for a while and had a couple of beers. I got a bit carried away and ended up drinking vodka and whisky with Ross and Steve (the two English guys) and ended up getting rather drunk. 6 hours later we stopped at Bak Beng where we would spend the night, continuing with out journey the next day. When we arrived and found a guesthouse to sleep at i passed out from drinking till 8am the next morning, having a refreshing 14hour sleep. Adam managed to stay up and go get some tea. The next day we woke up had some breakfast and headed for our boat to finish the rest of our journey. on the boat we got speaking to Ross and Steve again (Ross feeling sllllighty delicate from the previous days boat trip)

We arrived in Luang Parpang in the afternoon and fairly quickly found somewhere to stay for the night. It was 50.000kip a night (about 3.20) and it was in a decent location. Me and Adam totally forgot it was Halloween, we headed out for a few drinks. When we walked past a bar to hear screaming 'Adddaam Riiiicck' it was team America. We'd met them in chiang mai on the trek, there was John and Ileana (a couple who'd been together a while) and Jess (Ileana's sister) they were all dressed up for Halloween. we all went to a bar called 'lou lou' which was packed. probably because it was serving two for one cocktails for about 1 pound! a quid?! so as you can image there was alot of drunk people that night. when the bar closed everyone headed to the bowling alley just outside town. apparently thats where everyone goes to keep drinking because all the bars close early in Luang Prapang.

The next day feeling slightly rough me and adam got up and decided like every morning we needed a good feed to help cure our hangovers. After breakfast we walked around the city exploring all the markets seeing what Laos had to offer. The markets were great, they had everything you can imagine and more. if you were peckish you could eat a pigs head and ears, yummmy!!! i decided to try the fish on a stick, which was literally a fish cook on a Barbee held between two sticks. It was one good fish, i could have had two! We then explored for rest of the city. The most important thing for me and Adam when we arrive somewhere new is that they have lots of food at the markets, then we're happy. In the centre of the city is mount Phousi with stunning views of the surrounding temples and hills. Me and Adam climbed up at the stairs to the top of Phousi to find lots of shines and statues of Buddha. Monks visit the shrines daily, pray and give offerings to the shrines. Offerings such as rice, candles, fruit and even cans of coke. Even Buddha appreciates a can of coke!

At the stop of the mountain we had a fantastic view of the city, temples and mountains as far as the eye can see. After taking in the view for a while we headed back down the other side of the mountain. On the way down we passed a women who was selling caged birds. The cages were only the size of a fist and the birds couldn't even spread their wings. We've noticed since we've been in Asia that animals aren't looked after in general half as well as they are back home. Back home some people adore their pets more than their only family lol out here its somewhat different. Cats and dogs just wander around the street. anyway I'm heading slightly off track here. When we arrived back to the bottom of the mountain we decided to book out bus to Vientiane. That evening we went out for a meal, had a few drinks then went to bed. We were really excited about getting to Vientiane because we'd heard so much about 'tubing'. I'll let Adam explain all about that in his next blog.

Love, Rick