My prayers to the Wine God have been answered!!! Two whole weeks without wine (well almost...we did manage a couple of bottles in the rainforest but other than that!) and we have finally moved on to Laos, which has a French colonial heritage, which = wine!!!! And baguettes, crepes, Nutella - I am officially in heaven!!!

Anyway, where were we when we last wrote...Chiang Mai. Had a great time there, then headed up to Chiang Rai - not much to report there really apart from a great night market complete with entertainment, ladyboys and food stalls selling everything from curry, to BBQ chicken and deep fried insects! Robin came very close to trying some but thankfully decided against it at the last minute. Other than that Chiang Rai was little more than a stop over point on our way to the Laos border.

Border crossing went without a hitch thankfully and then we boarded a slow-boat to take us down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang. Now this may sound very romantic, 2 days cruising down the river, but let me explain - you are sitting on wooden benches, similar to church pews, with 68 other locals and tourists - 6 hours on the first day, then an over night stop in a tiny village built purely for the purpose of housing passengers for one night (electricity went off at 10pm!) then 8 hours on the same boat the next day. Not what I would call great fun! We did meet some great people though and the scenery was amazing (if not a little samey) and there was a certain amount of camerardery (not sure how you spell that?) among fellow passengers so it wasn't all bad.

Our arrival in Lunag Prabang has certainly made it all worth while too. We arrived on a festival marking the end of Buddist Lent (all planned obviously!) so there was a big parade through the centre of town with floats from all the surrounding villages, fire eaters, fireworks, singing, dancing...it was fantastic. Coupled with the wine and western food saying we like the place would be an understatement!

Moving on again tomorrow, down to the capital Vientiene.