Up nice and early, we collected the elephants from their bed deep in the jungle and took them for an early morning bath before breakfast. With free time before lunch we took the elephants on several treks the penultimate one ending with large scale deforestation of the local bamboo hedge rows! For lunch was freshly caught (large) whole Tilapia with sticky rice and spinach, delicious! Lunch consumed we said our goodbyes and headed to the whiskey village to sample the local tipple, one light and sweet the other bitter and heavy, at 80% proof it had a kick. Onwards to Kuansi waterfall and it's accompanying bear sanctuary. Another stunning waterfall this time with a 30 metre fall at its start culminating in a massive plunge pool complete with rope swing (an opportunity to recreate a picture that Rich (Symes) had taken several years earlier was not missed by Martin). Back in town we had our best meal in Lao Loa Village Restaurant and headed to the Hive next door for an evening of local fashion shows and breakdancing!

For our last day in town we decided lounging by a local pool was the way to go, rejuvenating ourselves ready for the 2 day boat to the Thai border. It was an early start and on to the tuk tuk to the port. We boarded what was essentially a family's house, the boats are long and thin, wide enough for 2 sets of car seat (literally) with a aisle in the middle and as long as 2 tennis courts, at the back was the house complete with bedroom and kitchen. Husband was captain, wife was cabin crew and even the kids chipped in when needed! Safely seated we were off, now the Mekong isn't exactly the Thames and with it being the end of dry season it was at its most dramatic, fast flowing, mustard yellow, full of debris and boulders galore. It was choppy to say the least and only a person born on the river could be capable of its navigation. So we chugged on for 10 hours with beautiful Laos as our backdrop our destination Pak Beng. We arrived a little later than planned and the hordes of travellers heading in the other more popular direction had flooded the towns hostels, so much so that even our previously booked room was taken! Not a problem in Laos, the sister was thrown out to make room for us and 20,000 dong was taken off the price!

The journey continued the following day and we arrived in Houei Xai on what we thought would be our last day in Laos but that was shortly to change...