Once we had recovered form The Gibbon Experience our aim was to head to the south of Laos. We decided to take the slow boat again down to Luang Prabang, this time we were joined by the two guys who were with us for the Gibbon Experience. Unfortunately it is was a bit chilly the first day on the boat, as we arrived in Pak Beng it started to rain. Kate ran ahead to see if the hotel that was recommended to us had rooms, luckily it did and it was cheap, 50,000 Kip (about £4). We checked in just in time for the heavens to open. There was a power cut in the village so we sat on the balcony and had a few beers listening to the rain come down and getting a brief glimpse of the mountains around us as the lighting struck. It was very atmospheric, the village was in complete darkness, you couldn't even see the other side of the street. We sat there for a while by candle light then at last about two hours later the power was back on. We had some dinner and got an early night as we were up early for the second leg of the boat journey.
The next day we finally arrived back in Luang Prabang. We checked into the hotel we stayed at during our first stay in Luang Prabang, we even managed to get more of a discount! That night we had a wander around the huge night market and treated ourselves to some delicious cake, Kate opting for Lemon cake and Pete for chocolate. The guy let us choose which slice, and of cause we both went for the biggest slices. Well more like slabs! Both were good contenders but the lemon cake just won it.

The next day we arranged to meet up with the two guys from the Gibbon Experience, Steve and Clive and go to the Tat Kuang Si waterfall.

We decided to go early to beat the tour groups. It took just under an hour to get there by tuk tuk, we bought our tickets and went in. Before you get to the waterfall there's a Sun Bear rescue centre. The Chinese use different parts of the Sun bears for medicine. The enclosures were massive and there were at least 30 Sun bears there. They all looked pretty content. The enclosures where fitted out with climbing frames, swimming pools and swings, they were funny to watch.
From here we took a walk up to the waterfall, and wow! The water was so clear and blue we had never seen anything like it. It's what you picture all waterfalls to look like. We made our way to the top cascade and it was amazing, there was a 25 meter drop. This is by far the most impressive waterfall we have seen.

After snacking on a BBQ'd purple sweet potato we made our way back to town. We had a few admin things to sort out but later had arranged to have our final meal with Steve and Clive.

We had a few drinks followed by food where a cat decided it wouldn't leave Kate alone and ended up sitting on her lap all night despite moving it numerous times. Luckily it was a cute little kitten so Kate was happy. We said our farewells to Steve and Clive and headed home.