Laos - Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng (8/3 to 15/3) We cossed the Thai - Laos border at 10am on the march 9. Completed the formalities and bordered the boat to Luang Prabang in central Laos. Funnily enough i met a guy from Alfreton at the border. The boat set off at 11:30am and trugged up the river at about 15mph. The journey at this pace would take us two days, stopping off halfway to stay the night in Pakbang. There is an option to take a speed boat that does the whole journey in 6 hours, but you have to wear a crash helmet. We decided to give that a miss. Not much to report on the first day, we arrived in Pakbeng about 4:30pm sorted some accomadation out then had to wait till 7pm for the towns generator to kick in and the lights to come on. WE spent the night in the hotel restaurant. 8:30am start the next day for 9am departure. On arrvial at the boat we were surprised to find out that firstly the boat was much smaller and secondly there were more passengers. The boat was full the day before so it was a little crampt to say the least. People did their best to find a space to sit, either on a seat, the floor, in the engine room in the luggage compartment or on the roof. We luckily got a seat, be it on a park bench, but hey this is Laos, things are a little different here. After 7 hours the park bench was becoming a little uncomfy to sit on. We eventually arrived in Luang Prabang at 5:30pm to our delight. The next day we wandered around the streets of Luang Prabang visiting the money Buddhist temples (Wats) and relaxing bars by the Mekong River. Luang Prabang was probably the most peaceful place where I have ever been to, there are no cars in the temples area, its just a place where tourists wander amongst monks with the stunning Laos countryside in the background. Time appears to have forgotton this place. After watching the sunset from a hill over looking the town, we headed to an Indian restaurant for a curry being the cultured travellers we are. The following day we got a tuk-tuk to a waterfall about 30km south of Luang Prabang. Once you get out of the town it's just a dirt track all the way there. We spent a few hours at the waterfalls, jumping off rope swings and rocks. A fantastic afternoon in the sunshine. In the evening we headed back to watch the football in the bar, even in Laos, they have premiership football. A 7am start the next morning to catch the 8am bus to Vang Vieng about 150km south of Luang Prabang. The journey was the worst I have ever experienced I felt sick for almost the entire journey as did many others judging by the number of people that were being sick on the bus. The driver was rallying round the hillside in a bus, intent on getting us there in the shortest possible time no matter what the consequences were. There was also a guy on the bus carrying an AK-47 rifle over his arm and nobody battered an eye lid, except all the tourists. He was probably there as protection because the road we travelled on has been known to be bandit country. Feeling safe over here has a different meaning to at home. On arrival in Vang Vieng we were greeted by a surreal place, there is no road just a dirt track through the centre of town but all the restaurants play episodes of Friends and The Simpsons continuously. Most places are laid out in mattresses on an eleveated floor with tables across your body. You just lie there and watch the simpsons, which we did. In the evening, it threw it down and we took shelter in a bar until the early hours. The next day we decided to go tubing on the river, you get given a rubber ring and just float down the river. Along the banks of the river farmers have built rope swings and bars for people to stop off at. If you buy a beer you get a free go on the rope swing. We stopped off at every rope swing down the way, it was great fun, but most people we were with got injured at least once. Some of the swings you jump off a platform, 10m above the river and swing out like a pendulum, dropping off into the water. Most people aim to let go at the highest point, which is fine if you land feet first, but if you land on your face like greg did or on your back like I did or on your front like rich did it was extremely painfull. We had a great time but we didnt make it to the end because the river was too shallow and too slow and it got dark, so we gave up and caught a tuk-tuk back to Vang Vieng. The next day we caught a bus down to Vientiane, said goodbye to Davo, Greg, Jimbo and Poppy who were going to Vietnam (meeting up with them again in Sydney on 28 April) and crossed over the Thai border to catcha night train to Bangkok. Were heading to the Islands now cant wait, two or three weeks soaking up the sun on the beach. oh Yes!!!