hi guys fiannly made it to thailand, 2 days on a lovely cruise liner that was similar to a canal boat. the family who own the boat actually live on it. the lady cooked us some amzaing food both days so i was happy of course as food is my thang!

im really sad to have left laos as it is my favourite place in the whole wide world ever!! so so so lush! our last night in Luang Prabang we went out and visited the night marked and i got bartering. i am such a good haggler i think cos im harsh Dr Peter says im crazy arguing over 25 cents but that the aim of the game innit!! i got a bag, purse and lovely bracelet all for very good price.

after that we went back to bed as we needed to get up at 5am to feed the monks of course. they can only eat donated food which is weird and only vbefore midday too. so they do a proper parade. we went to the shiop first and i bought some traditional monk snacks... fake oreo cookies! they were indiviudally wrapped. it was early so no sun at first which was good as we have to be covered up with them being monks! but after i bought the cookis then got on the rug with my scaft thing that you are given that looks like a mmiss world sash but not as fancy and my bowl of bisciuts it was hot hot hot!! oh deary me! you have to kneel up and place the food in their bowl (food storage thing_) without touching them as you cannot touch a monk! its quite a fast process as millions of them are out following down the line wanting a feed. some people give them rice and cakes it all gets mixed up in the pot so looks weird. the older monks were a bit blase and not really happy to be gettting free food but the little children monks were grinning away they are so adoreable. bless them!! it lasted about maybe half n hour until we ran out so we gave our robe thing back and bowl carpet and off we went for breakfast before the boat trip on the mekong. the boat was lovely to be fair, very basic but nice and quite comfy it was soo hot though!! i had many naps which was nice until you wake up a proper sweaty mess. i tired to sunbathe but it was so hot so i didnt manage to stay for long i had to go back to my seat. the boat was all ours. Mr Bean our local guide and newbie was with us the whole time they were very sweet! on the way to our bed for the night somewhere in laos as we werent allowed to sleep on boat thank god as it would have been a nice feast session for the mossies!! on the way, we stopped at a village were onky 350 laos people live. i was bit like 'hate this s*** man its canny awkward just trooping in to look at the poor' but oh my buddah it was amazing. they have litterally notjing no electrics, nothing; everything we have and take for granted they basivally dont have. when we got there there was a little boy whol looked like moglai from the jungle book straight away. then i saw pigs! there is chickens everywhere in asia so they are to be expected but pigs and baby piglets! oh wow it was lush. half the village came to see us grinning away. the ladies there get married at 15 then get up at 4am everyday to pound the rice for 2 hours for breakfast for their lass ass husbands, then for dinner also the 2 hour rice thing one of the ladies was doing it and it looks painful especially when you consider how hot it is here. absolutely crazyness!! we taught the kids how to high five then me and brydie had a pic taken with some and we did the peace sign which they also started to copy! we have left the peace sign behind as a legacy as when they waved our boat off some where doing it. bless them. the village was amazing though we got there and only 1 man on the village spoke english which is pretty impressive as they are in the middle of no where. they do school until the family cant afford it basically. everyone was so happy, relaxed and generally lovely it was so nice to see, they have nothing but really they have everytihing. they men insisted we try their home brew whisky made of rice (of course) the straws were made of bamboo and they were so proud for us to try it we all had tons of it. one of the men proper pusshed me towards it so i coul drink more at one point as they wanted to share everything. a lady gave Janine a huge cucumber for a gift it was so lovely. all the kids were just amazing again though so happy faces!! they waved us off for aages!! priceless!!. after that trip we were all buzzing as it was just so good then we saw a wild elephant on the edges of the mekong!! flipping heck man how much more can i take!?! we then got really hyper and decided to get on it. by getting on it i mean beer lao!! we got to our amazing hotel on the river it was another log cabin affair it was soo bloody lushious and mossie nets really set the scene its like a princess bouduoir (cant spell man) we then went out for food we got straight on the lao lao which apperntly if u have 2 shots before dinner you really enjoy your meal. if id had two shots then i would have forgot my name!! i borrowed a nice silver ashtray for brydie! girl power! cant take newcastle out of the girl etc. we then ended up dancing on tables doing more shots etc etc. good times! ...