Our last stop in Laos was in Pakse, the nearest town to the Thai border and one of the hottest. We found a cheap hotel and opted for a fan room, we headed up to the roof and found our room was part of a shed, a very hot shed.

We met with our friends Clive and Steve that evening and had an Indian meal before heading to bed as we had an early bus to cross the border.

We both loved Laos. As soon as we entered in the north the landscape changed, the whole country is blanketed in dense jungle with roads and rivers winding through it. The towns we visited were beautiful, Laos had the best markets we have seen, not the same old tut as everywhere else, they had beautiful hand crafted items all made by the locals.

We had an amazing experience in the jungle, sleeping high in the trees and zip lining across the valleys, it was so much fun and memories we'll never forget. We loved the south, although it was uncomfortably hot. The people are friendly; they have so little but always have a smile. They live off the food they grow and have very little else. We weren't knocked out by the food in Laos, much of it is influenced by Thai cuisine. Laap, the main Laos dish of minced meat with herbs and lime, really wasn't that great. We have heard that they will eat anything and we saw dried rats hanging from market stalls and the cockroach in Pete's rice really put us off.

The best part of our diet in Laos was the beer Laos, one of the best beers we have had on our travels.

If Laos was a place in the UK it would be shut down due to lack of health and safety. On the gibbon experience we just strapped ourselves into the harness and off we went, no one was there checking it, making sure we were strapped in ok. In Vang Vieng where we went tubing, we weren't surprised so many people died doing this, jumping off rope swings into shallow rocky water. And the buses, they cram as many people as they can onto a bus, you have to take your hats off to them, they are creative in how they manage to fit so much on top of, and inside the buses.

All in all Laos was great fun. We met some great people, enjoyed some crazy activities, relaxed by beautifull waterfalls and drank some amazing coffee.