Hello everyone!
Sorry that it has been so long since we updated you all on what we have been up to, but it is quite difficult to find an internet cafe where the mice run fast enough to make the internet quick enough to put on our photos! lol! So, as I am typing this, Sarah is busy uploading a load of pictures for you to see!

So, a lot has been happening since we last updated you, so I will try to remember as much as possible! Last time we were in Chiang Mai and had just been elephant riding and bamboo rafting I think! That seems like so long ago now, although it was less than a week!
We left Chiang Mai the next day for Chiang Khong nearer the Laos border. The journey there was a bit of a nightmare! It wasn't too bad to begin with, Sarah, Liz, Sally and I were playing games, listening to music, reading etc, but after about an hour it got rather boring! We heard 'are we nearly there yet' a good few times! And the last hour was pretty much as far out in the sticks as possible, the road was SO bumpy! Good job we had taken our travel sickness pills! But (finally) we got there after 6 hours in a mini-van!
We a rrived to a bit of a shocker in Chiang Khong, so far our hotels and guest houses had been fairly nice, but this one, well ... it was nice enought from the outside, and even the lounge and reception was nice, but the rooms were, lets just say rather smelly and you could hear every word from the rooms next door! that night we wet out for dinner as a group, and then some of us decided to go out for a few drinks at a local bar. However the local bar was closed, but next door was 'bob's house'! Some guy had turned his front room into a bar! well I say front room, it was just open onto the road, he seemed to live in a kind of straw teepee!

The next day we had the trip across the border into Laos. It was siple enough, we got a long boat across the river to the Laos side of the Mekong, filled in a couple of forms and in we went! Walking up the river bank with our big backpacks wasn't fun! Although aparently the river was extremely high when we did it so usually the walk is twice as far!! So shouldnt complain really!!

We went to the towns port to meet our boat that would take us down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang over the next 2 days. It was a very simple traditional Thai Ferry style boat, fairly long and narrow, but aparently usually holds 70-80people (I wouldn't believe it, but I've seen how many they cram on tuktuks!) But we had the boat to ourselves, so there was only 12 of us on board. the 2 days went by fairly quickly, we looked at the scenery (which was beautiful, look at the pictures!), played cars, and read mainly. Matt and I would like to think that we were the first and second people to ever finish Harry Potter while on the Mekong! (Hopefully true! DOnt know how we would prove that tho!)

We stopped overnight 1/2 way to Luang Prabang in a town called Pakbeng, again this was a beautiful liitle town, with no mains electricity! HAHAHA! No, I'm not joking,although we thought it was a joke at first! but after a few minutes in the cold shower, it's just like being in a cold swimming pool! Nice after a day on the boat, but not so nice the next morning! Our hotel had it's own generator, but it was only on between 6-10pm, which made things a little dark most of the time!

Back on the boat for the 2nd stretch down the Mekong, this time we stopped at a tiny Village of Mhong People (People that live in the hills). It was a beautiful place, and the people lived in mud and straw huts, it had rained the night before and the ground was really muddy! There were loads of children playing on the banks of the river when we arrived, and they followed Sarah around the village, It was like seeing Madonna go to Africa on the news!!! lol! I did have to check her bag as we left to make sure that she hadn't taken one with her.

Another short stop before we got to Luang Prabang at the Pak Ou Caves (again beautiful) that are at the bottom of some cliffs along the mekong. the caves are some kind of Buddhist monument, there are buddhas in every available carck and ledge! this was just the bottom cave, we then went up another SHORT flight of stairs (oh, maybe 300 stairs!? Why do they seem to build everything on top of hills here!?) To another cave, but this time we needed torches, this one was slightly disappointing as there was only 1 large buddha at the very back of the cave, lit by candles! All those stairs for just 1 buddha!!!

We arrived in Luang Prabang and immidiately it's french past is obvious, the city is beautiful, very ye olde french looking. It is the least city looking city I have ever been to! There are no high rise builings at all, mostly limited to 2 storys, there are very few cars, tuktuks, mopeds, bicylces and walking seem to be the main ways of getting around. The way of life here is certainly laid back! We spent 3 days in Luang Prabang seeing the sights etc. The National Museum, Monks collecting armes (receiving donations of food at 5.30am, that was an early morning!) from the people of Luang Prabang and we went to the Kuang Si Falls, about an hour away and up in the hills! The views were fabulous and we went swimming in some of the lower pools/ Sarah was quite brave and jumped into the pool from a small (but still big enough) waterfall, and she was playing with the rope swing that the local children had made. On the way back down to meet the tuktuks, we went past a tiger and Bear rehabilitation centre. Tigers and bears that have been saved from Poachers are kept here, but as they were rescued when they were very young, they won't be able to go back out into the wild because they wouldnt survive. It's quite nice tho because they have huge enclosures. I have never been so close to a tiger before, it was amazing! Beats Chester Zoo, this one yawned and walked about!!! It was amazing! That night, Sarah, Liz, Sally, Matt, Amy and I went out for a fantastic meal (3 courses, quite a few of us had fillet steak, beers and wine too) and it only came to 30 pounds (no pound sign on this computer) for us all! Amazing! And I think that it was possibly the nicest fillet steak that I have ever had! The food was superb! In fact Luang Prabang seems to have fantastic food and restaurants as standard! We found a lovely French place the next night.

THe next day we all decided to hire bikes to see the rest of Luang Prabang. Should have thought ahead and not gone out in the midday heat, after an hour and 1/2 we were all nearly passing out! THe night we went around the Night Market, the Luang Prabang Night Market is amazing, so many beautiful things!

We flew out of Luang Prabang on tuesday and headed for Vientiane, the capital of Laos, which is where we are now. Well, I have never seen such a sleepy capital!! Sarah and I have hired bikes again today (managed to get pink 'Hello Kitty' ones!!) And we went around to see the sights. Not too much to do here, we went to the most important temple in Laos ... but it was closed, and we went to see the 'Vertical Runway' which is amonument to the people that died in the wars here, it's like a concrete arch d'tromphe! there's even that really busy road that leads up to it like in Paris too! (Yes, we managed to navigate it on bikes!!!!) it's called the vertical runway because it is made from concrete donated by the Americans that was going to be used to build another military runway, but then the war ended.

And so I think that that just about wraps it up! We are off swimming in the hotel pool now, Sarah can't wait, she is sick of having to keep her shoulders and knees covered! I suggested that she just wear leg warmers and shoulder pads with a bikini because it doesn't seem to matter about the rest of the body, just shoulders and knees! but she didn't seem to keen on that idea, I think that she is itching to get to the beach!

Speak to you all soon. Hope you are all well!

Missing you loads!

Lots of Love,

Naomi and Sarah xxx