Sabaidee!

Greetings from Luang Prabang, Laos! When we last left you we were gearing up for a monster bus journey from Hanoi, we had expected 30 hours travel time but luckily it was just over 25 hours and wasn't too bad even with the usual shouting and herding from bus driver and crew. The border was no bother as soon as we'd been stamped out of Vietnam the guard just pointed up the road and shouted 'Go to Laos!' so we did. Passing through the Laos countryside seeing the hill villages was really nice although the constant winding up and down the hillsides soon lost its appeal.

Arriving in Luang Prabang we ditched our stuff at our guesthouse and went to get dinner at veggie street buffet where the cheery guy piled our plates high with allsorts and all for 70p, very tasty! Before getting into bed for a well earned rest we wandered through all the stalls of the street market which is shopping heaven, luckily we can't carry anymore stuff so we restrained ourselves.

Next day explored the town and spent the day strolling down the Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers watching the boats, the fisherman and little children swimming. That night we ate down food alley, a small alley way filled with people cooking and bbq-ing on little stalls, and helped ourselves to a huge stick of bbq meat and a big bowl of noodles and our first Beer Lao, probably the cheapest pint on our travels. After dinner we bought some trinkets from the market, its hard to haggle with such smiley people but maybe thats their plan. Next day we explored further afield and to do this we rented a couple of bicycles and hit the road and rested in the afternoon on the beautiful banks of the Mekong until it started raining ash from the surrounding slash and burn farming giving everything a strange light in which we got some good pics. That night it was food alley again before we headed to a couple of bars, highlight being the hippy hangout Utopia with its volley ball court next to the bar.

Today we headed to Kuang Si waterfalls which were beautiful. After an hour rattling around in the back of a tuk-tuk we arrived at the park and first had a look at the bear rescue centre where they have saved some Asianic and Sun bears from poachers. Then through the jungle to the waterfalls. there were several bright blue pools so we jumped right in and then out again because it was freezing! Got some great pics and watched the people flying from the rope swing. After a few hours there we headed back and once again to food alley to our favourite spot before turning in to get some kip before our bus to Vang Vieng tomorrow. Bring on the whisky buckets!!!