I wrote this one just for you David!! Although I feel that golden balls has received far too much praise from everyone for the blogs…..at least I didn't forget Mothers Day!

We have been in Laos now for 4 days but it feels longer, very different feeling to Cambodia and particularly stark difference from Vietnam. In Nam we had got used to the constant badgering from "moto" men and people in shops and cafes brought "draggy innies" to a whole new level…Yet here people are relaxed, calm, welcoming and don't hassle you into anything - which is nice! Luang Prabang was just awesome - both the scenery and the atmosphere. At 7am on the morning we left we were waiting in the street outside our guesthouse for a tuk tuk to the bus station… we watched a stream of silent monks in their orange get up walking to the temples - there were hundreds of them!

The bus journey was interesting to say the least, 6 hours to vang vieng and 5 of it was winding up and down the most amazing mountainous country -

As on most of the journeys we passed villages where the people live in shacks at the side of the road, with about 10 kids and a couple of cows! The kids here though looked very happy, even chubby and with the rosiest cheeks - gorgeous. Not sure how high up we got but it felt like the top of the world - bit hairy at times as the driver didn't look a day over 12, but the road was good and we arrived safely!

Vang Vieng is in the middle of nowhere and is equally as stunning - nestled on the river as it winds amongst the limestone krast .

We managed to catch up with Karla and Dennis again - who after a day "tubing" down the river (which is the thing to do here) gave us all the top tips. The main take out for me being that the 2 of them, and everyone else we saw in the bars, were absolutely ratted!!! Seems the beautiful scenery is appreciated more when one is loosened with some lao lao whisky (50% proof and rank) from one of the plentiful river side bars! Bit of a backpacker haven here it seems so Granddad and I were typically considering not doing it - far too many young lads wearing mirrored aviators and bandanas for Ian's liking. We ended up at 1am on some kind of island with a bar, blaring music, a full on dancefloor …and generally far too many young people having a good time.

So we headed off tubing this morning and to be fair it was very relaxing and there wasn't many people doing it - we floated 3kms, few rapids to keep it interesting and the scenery again - fab, pictures and video don't do it justice . All got a bit much towards the end when we started to float aimlessly towards some water buffalo who were taking a dip…with rather large horns! And we then realized how impressive our sunburn was! Ian has stripy feet and my legs are just embarrassing. (After the night before the only thing we drank at the bars was Pepsi by the way)

Another bus tomorrow (only 3 hrs) to Vientiane (capital) in the last leg before we hit the beach in Thailand (via an overnight train and a flight to Ko Samui!?)

PS yes my hair is still orange it has not faded at all L see photos

Also anyone who has been texting us and not getting a response - sorry, we are having a few issues with the phones in laos…should be back to normal next week.