Hey Everyone!

We're finally in Luang Prabang, Laos! We got here by slow boat from Chiang Kong, which took two days with an overnight stop off in Pak Beng. The first day was a seven hour trip including a short stop for young village children to come aboard with trays of goodies - beer, crisps etc. The small wooden boat was packed with van seats which weren't even nailed down!! When we stopped in Pak Beng (a small town with just one street) we were met by a crowd of locals who bombarded us with offers of not only a place to stay but also some weed and opium!!! (Naturally we said no and made our way to the quieter side of the small town!) We found 'The Mekong River View Bungalows' a really nice, quiet place to stay away from the bars along the river - it meant we had to pay a little over the odds but after the day we'd had travelling we needed a good nights sleep before we did it all over again the next day. We even managed to barter the room price down from $35 to the equivalent of £12!

The next day was much of the same with another uncomfortable nine hour trip, although this time we had better seats and managed to get chatting to a lot of nice people which made the time pass a lot quicker!!! This trip included a lot more stop off's for picking up goods - this time none of the beer variety but more livestock including mixed boxes of chickens, ducks and geese which had been dipped in the water to keep them cool before they were put on the METAL roof!!!!!!!! The poor things must have been roasting!!

We arrived in Luang Prabang at about 6pm and, again, were met by hoards of locals offering much of the same as in Pak Beng. We decided to go our own way with the group of people we'd met on the boat, however it turned into a really long walk around the city with a guy who had offered what sounded like a great room for 20,000 kip - but it turned into 70,000 kip after a tedious 20 minute walk!!! That was a waste of time!!! After an eternity of continually walking around, we eventually found the 'Sok Dee Guesthouse' which was really nice, although slightly more expensive than the other places - it was still a bargain at less than £5 each per night!!!!!!

After showering and eating we spent the night in a beer garden with everyone we'd met on the boat, about 20 of us. Today we've hired bicycles (not as exciting as Kie's moped!) and toured the town visiting the Temples and enjoying the blazing sunshine! Tomorrow we intend to go to the National Museum and enjoy a bit more sightseeing before heading to Vang Vieng on Tuesday for the tubing (Google/YouTube it - maybe not for the parents though!!!!) After Vang Vieng we'll head South towards Cambodia.

We're looking forward to some more comments from you after a seemingly long quiet period from us on here!

Take care, lots of love Sophie and Kie xx