Hello everyone! Well - after one of the craziest weeks I've ever had I am now safe and well in Laos - a whole new country! The birthday sickness got really bad and I eventually had to go into hospital - spent three days there - being looked after in absolute luxury! I had my own room, with a hot shower, TV, fridge and air con! They never did really work out what it was but thought it might have been caused by a parasite in the dirty water that was being thrown around at New Year - Happy bloomin' New Year eh!?!?!? Anyway - I am feeling loads better now and must be THE most rehydrated traveller ever - you should have seen the amount of fluids they kept pumping into me! So, now I am in Laos - in Louang Phrabang. It took 2 days to get here on the slowest boat in the world - we stopped overnight in Pak Beng, a tiny little village that was lit completely by candlelight - as they have no electricity and the generators cost too much to run to use all the time. There really wasn't anything there - but it was good to have a shower and sort ourselves out before getting back on the boat for another 7 hour leg of the journey! Louang Phrabang is beautiful, Laos was once colonised by the French and the influence still shows. The buildings look distinctly French and they have the best baguettes I've had since Nira's bakery in Haad Rin! They even have proper cheese - imported from NZ! There's something really comforting too about seeing signs in French and being able to understand them - just to prove to myself I haven't forgotten everything I learned at school! The Laos currency is the kip - and at present there are 10,000 kip to the US dollar- which means that I have just changed 50 dollars (about 25 UK pounds) into kip and I have the biggest stash of cash you've ever seen! I've never felt soooo wealthy! Think I might have to buy a new backpack just to carry my money around in! I think we will spend a few days here, there's a lovely waterfall to climb and a few other bits and bobs, including a cave full of disused Buddha images, which is meant to be a bit creepy - but worth a look I think! Then we will make our way down the country to Vang Viang and then to Vientiane. Oh yes - my phone no longer works as I'm not in Thailand any more so email and this site will be the only way to get hold of me, so to speak! I'll try and check as often as I can but contact may be a little sketchy from now on. Please don't think I'm ignoring you all! Got to go now - there's a cheese baguette calling my name! Lots of love to you all, Vicky xxx