Luang Prabang is simply wonderful. After finding a room and catching our breath we went out to explore. The night market was so refined and relaxed after our experiences in Thailand, no hard sell, no "missy, missy, you buy!" It was beautifully lit and had great local clothing and textiles, carvings, paintings and produce. We wandered around hassle free.

The following day we explored the town properly. This didn't take too long as it is only a small place. The whole town has UNESCO world heritage status. Sure, some of the buildings were crumbling, (some were downright decrepid,) but it had a charm and atmosphere that we found enchanting. There is a steep hill in the centre of town surmounted by a temple or two. After wheezing up the 200 or so steps, (it's hard work in the heat and humidity!) we were rewarded with great views over the town and river. The town sits between two rivers at the confluence of the Nam Khong and the Mekong. There we sat sipping tea and watched the life of the locals. Monks working on an old wooden footbridge, kids jumping into the river and cartwheeling on the sand, farmers working the heavily planted riverbanks. It felt most civilised.

We kept bumping into friends we had met on the riverboat trip, Nick and his sister Rachel from Bournmouth. Nick was really drunk when we met him. He'd been drunk on the boat and then had found himself a bottle of LauLao whiskey. We shared many toasts with him, even though Sharon found the stuff vile. By the end of the night he'd bought another 2 bottles and we watched him wandering around in just 1 flipflop. Stephen had to get him back to his guesthouse because he was in danger of ending up face down in the river! South African Dan and his mate Matt, Namesh, Rick and Hemi from London. We swapped details of where was good to eat and drink and helped each other enjoy the town to the full in the short time we had there.

All too soon it was time to leave for Vientiane. Most of the others were heading to the hippy hangout at Vang Vien, so we said our goodbyes and departed for the Airport.

We would highly recommend both the river trip and the town of Luang Prabang and can't thank Billy Durrant enough for recommending Laos as a destination in general. The towns French colonial architecture was a refreshing departure from the concrete monstrosities we've seen in most other places and the layed back attitude of the Lao people left us feeling sorry we had to leave.