Just got back from the elephant camp and what a fantastic experience! The camp itself is beautiful with lots of information on the conservation of elephants and lovely sala's and shady areas to sit in and of course the views are beautiful. The group for the mahout course was limited to 8 and we had a good group of 4 Australians and a Dutch couple with us. The first thing you do after a quick briefing is to take it in turns to have a go on the back of an elephant...

Happy new year from Luang Prabang! We arrived here on the 30th after a journey through some amazing mountain scenery. Luang Prabang itself feels like a very special place and the whole of the old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are temples at every turn and the old quarter really does feel like you have stepped back a couple of decades. Then again all of Laos feels a bit like that! We spent yesterday looking at most of the main sites including some b...