Right so im going to have to backtrack a bit as im a bit far behind but you cant blame me after uve read this!

So last sunday spent the day geeking up in the temples. Considered doing a meditation course with the monks where you get to stay at the temple but in the end gave that idea a miss. Would have made for wkd photos though. Monday decided on a one day tour thing of the local villages to see the Acra, Ptong, Lisu, Longneck, and Karen hill tribes. I would have loved to do see these on a 3 day adventurous trek in the jungle but decided another couple of nights in the jungle sleeping on wet things and having to wash in an bug infested river wouldn't do my legs any good!. Decided in the end that i am allergic to elephants - could be worse i guess! (legs healing now yay). The tribes here in thailand are all here on tourists visas its a bit strange. I can't say I would recomend going to see them in this way after all if someone decided suddenly that my life was super interesting and wanted to come and trek around close to my house I would be slightly put out. Many still wear orginal dress but their primary concern is to sell the tourists jewllery and clothing. After a while 'Hallo- 10 baht' becomes a bit annoying and they chase you around with baskets of things. Seeing the kids is hard too. They too have picked up the Hallo Miss - 10 Baht and there were kids as young as 5 trying to sell you things. Most satisfying was making the babies smile and laugh and one or two little boys had great fun helping me take photos of the animals around the village. In particular one of the long neck children- a beautiful little girl of about 6- was particualy cute as she wanted me to come and sit next to her and I took a photo of the orchid in her hair so she could see. Aside from the kids the trip was a little disturbing.

Next day was the start of a mini adventure. Two days on a slow boat to Laos. Have to admit Laos wasn't originally on my plan of things to do but having spoken to people it was highly recommded so hey- why not. In the morning took a 5 hour mini bus to Chiang Kong (time just disappears over here!) on the border with Laos. Spent a night at a random guesthouse up there and in the morning caught a long boat across to Laos which took about 3 mins. Suddenly I was in Laos. It was a strange experience as we were hauled through "customs" and 'Immigration" - passport stamped it took about a million men and a couple of hours to load us all onto the boat heading for Luang Prabang. This boat- is a bit famous. Slow boat- rightly named as the trip takes two days! You can fly to LP but wheres the fun in that. The speed boat too take only 7 hours but don't picture our type of speed boat- think wooden long boat with engine going 60miles an hour while 8 people hang on to their knees for dear life- no roof just a helmet- and you'll know why most people choose the slow boat.

Luckily I had met a group of english and welsh girls who were heading the same way so the first day past quite quickly. Saw a lot of Lao scenery which was stunning even in the rain. The boat had pastic sheeting which you rolled down to keep out the rain so that was good. Am i selling it to you :)! After another night in a random guesthouse we started again on the slow boat- another 6 hours I think- a bit crazy but we had to sample the BeerLao and at 10,000 kip its a bit of a bargin (less that 50p). It was a gorgous day aswell. It was like watching a film on repeat but I didnt get sick of the mountain and jungle view! Most of Lao is a UNESCO world heritage protected and Im not going to argue! Finally arrived on thursday in Luang Prabang. A massive contrast- the town is beautiful and It was worth it. Had an awesome day going to caves and the most amazing waterfull I have ever seen!  I had beautiful photos that would make you all really jealous- became quite a photographer that day! In the evening had a quite a surreal evening chatting to some young monks on the top of a hill overlooking LP. They were asking us loads of questions about home and the world. It was really interesting as their english was really good. We told them that we loved LP and didnt want to leave - one of them suggested that we leave our spirits there and the other said that maybe when we were on our bus we could sit a dream of Luang Prabang. Aside from that they just wanted to know why forgein people kiss and what beer and whisky tasted like. LOl - :D !

Would definitly recommend Lao- bring a camara and a cushion for the slow boat either that or fly! xxx