A bumpy windy but relatively easy in comparison bus journey later we arrive at our home for the next few days "Sokdee Guesthouse" translated as cheers and lucky, a good omen we feel! Luang Prabang is a very sweet, very quiet national heritage town in direct contrast to the madness of Vang Vieng we have just left behind. Nestled alongside the banks of the Mekong and the Nam Khan river with rustic wooden buildings (every 2nd one a tour operator, restaurant or guesthouse) and a curfew of midnight we look forward to a few days of sightseeing and early nights.

First we check out our travel options to Thailand (it's always good to know what treats you have in store!!) and after seeing the slow boats, little wooden narrow boats with corrugated metal roofs, park benches, no leg room and reading about the speedboats, nothing more than a surf board with a motor, surprisingly often fatalities due to hitting rocks, tree roots and capsizing we go with the only other option available you guess it....a bus! All booked and ready to go we head to see the sunset at the other side of the river at an old run down disused monastery. We hire our own little boat that comes complete with driver who finds himself doing more than he signed up for, rescuing Sharons foot from the mud at the edge of the river bank that decided she was tasty, Me and Viv were extremely useful in fits of giggles shouting at her to stay there and smile for a photos! (as if she was going anywhere else??) the driver even washed her foot, bless him! Now safely on shore we walk through a little village up to the monastery and quickly attract a gaggle of children wanting us to buy stuff, resisting the temptation we sit through a song and dance performance watch the sunset through a tree (not the best view) and head for dinner. Sharon and I order a BBQ similar to hot pot in China with water buffalo (I ate all of this!), chicken, pork, mushy's, cabbage, eggs, noodles and morning glory that we cook in the bubbling veg stock, yummy.. When selecting our restaurant I had perhaps been rather too loudly vocal about the higher prices in Laos Laos (our bar) and out of no-where the owner appeared launching into a big justification saying that in the last 4 years rent had increased 1500% and next door is infact up for sale as it's struggling, it's all down to a 5* resort being built down the road and the land owners getting greedy, alright alright I say you've convinced me and after our BBQ he gives me a free beer to say thanks for giving his bar a try, what a very nice man! The boys from the bus are also in the bar enjoying massive buffalo steaks they have booked to go on the speedboat tomorrow, Sharon and I adopt Mother mode and read passages from the various travel books that explain the dangers to then, but they are undeterred, well one of them looks a little peaky at this point. All we could do now is hope and pray that they don't become just another statistic, they must be crazy....

The next day before our bus we take a trip to Kuang Si Waterfall (really pretty with the most amazing blue colour water) and bear care centre. Sharon decides to test her balancing skills walking across the top in the rock pools to get a better look, thankfully they are a lot better than mine! Viv and I head to the swimming pools at the bottom of the waterfall and just look longingly as with a bus to catch there's no time to be getting wet. The bus that was sold as VIP was anything but! so we spent 11 hours dressed in fisherman pants and flip flops with all of our other clothes out of reach in the luggage hold literally chattering our teeth together, but it was foggy outside and if the alternative was the driver falling asleep I'm glad he kept his window open. The night was eventful, they tried to gas us several times trying to fix the dodgy bus (the engine was inside) and I finally did the inevitable, fell off an elevated squat toilet and scrapped my ankle down the breeze block stand so 1/2 tube of antibiotic spray was used, yuk!! At the Thai border crossing early the next morning we got herded into little wooden boats which was interesting looking like turtles with our giant backpacks on and at the other side we met Jobsworth of the Year or w***y as Sharon named him. He stamped us into the country for only 14 days (not the normal 30) so to leave on Christmas Eve as the girl in front said that she was flying out that day and us all being western he assumed we were together! After much arguing and a temporary close of the border, his lame attempt to get rid of us, we realised we weren't going to win and stomped off in search for a local bus to Chang Rai. Checking the internet the law did change that day, rubbish!!! so feeling slightly guilty about our attitude towards w***y we decide a visa run to Burma before Christmas it is, so much for sitting and doing nothing on a beach for 2 weeks!!