Well today was another day I certainly won't forget in a hurray.

Nikki, Lauren and I were picked up in a tuk tuk at 8.30am and we spent the morning kayaking on the Nam Khan River. It was so relaxing and the scenery was beautiful. We all got our own kayaks which was fun and the rapids were quite strong in parts, so you had to tackle them straight so you didn't capsize. When there were no rapids the river was as still as anything and a gorgeous turquoise colour, it really was a tranquil environment. We kayaked 7km down river to where a tuk tuk was waiting for us. It was meant to take us 3-4 hours so they told us but we were at the finishing point in 2 and a half, so unsure whether we were super fast or they told us fibs! Anyways it was a lovely morning.

We were dropped back at the hotel around 12.30pm and headed straight out. Now this is where the fun started or should I really say the adventure. Nikki, Lauren and I decided we wanted to experience the proper Asia way of getting about, yes that's right either on a motorbike or moped! This town seemed much quieter than any of the other places we had been and especially compared to the cities in Vietnam so we thought we would hire bikes and go to the Kuang Sii Waterfalls. Eddie and Adrian were also going to hire bikes this afternoon after their mountain biking in the morning but they like to do their own thing so we hadn't arranged to meet them and go together. Well that all changed when we accidentally bumped into them on our way to enquire about rentals etc, and the five of us ended up going together.

We found a place not far from the hotel that gave us a good price compared to some others, so it was 100,000 kip for the manual bikes and 128,000 kip for the automatic bikes. Since the three of us had never driven a motorbike before we opted for the automatic and the boys went for the manual ones. When they arrived the automatics looked like mopeds and the manuals looked like motorbikes but to be honest I'm not sure what mine was classified as. It was pink anyways and it looked sweet :) Eddie handed his passport in for a deposit for all the bikes and we signed the disclaimer before heading out. I was pretty nervous as it looked easier than it was. Nikki however didn't even manage to drive her bike out of the yard, she didn't know what to do and looked really nervous so the guy had asked her if she had driven one before and she said no so that was the end of her moped adventure. Probably for the best after what happened next...

Nikki then came on the back of my bike, considering I had never driven one before and now I had a passenger probably wasn't the best but I think the guy at the shop thought I was a pro haha and told Nikki just to jump on the back. So the four bikes headed to the petrol station to fuel up before our adventure to the amazing waterfalls which were 30km south of Luang Prabang. The boys had driven bikes before in Asia but didn't have motorbike licences either (we had our English 'motorbike licences' on us at all times... :s NOT!!!). We went maybe 2 minutes down the road to a junction where we stopped as Adrian had stalled his bike and couldn't get it started again, there was a tuk tuk behind him and then Lauren and then me, but it didn't take him long to start up again and off he went. Lauren went up to the give way next and had to wait for a space in the traffic but when she went to turn right she skidded the bike and fell right off with her leg under the bike. It was so scary as I saw the whole thing and it looked so sore. She managed to pick herself up and pull the bike off the road really quickly but she was in total shock. Her leg was covered in blood, her helmet was scrapped from where she hut her head and the bike was totally scratched.

Luckily Eddie was behind us and we all stopped together. Lauren kept saying she was ok but she was shaking and looked totally pale. After 5 minutes or so debating on how we were going to get her bike back, as she obviously didn't want to drive again, we managed to get all the bikes and all of us back to our hotel. After seeing what just happened to Lauren, I refused to take Nikki on the back of my bike as I didn't want to be responsible if anything happened like that to me. All of her cuts were superficial, so I cleaned them up when we got back and dressed them with the special dressings I had plus made her take paracetamol and ibuprofen. She was determind to still go to the waterfalls though and the boys had offered to take Nikki and Lauren on the back of their bikes and I would drive myself. I was in two minds to whether or not to forget about the bikes and the 3 of us would get a tuk tuk there and back, as I was really nervous if the same thing would happen to me.

Anyways I decided to just go for it and the 5 of us headed off on the 3 bikes to see these spectacular falls. We stopped at the petrol station just out of town to fuel up and then off we went. I was really nervous for the first wee bit but after I got the hang of it, it was so much fun. Eddie and Nikki went first, I followed them and Adrian and Lauren behind me. It took us 40 minutes to get there, the roads were twisty and really steep as we were going through the mountains. The scenery was amazing, we passed through loads of small villages and buffalos were just grazing at the sides of the road. When we arrived I was as stiff as a plank, I don't think I had moved my hands from the same spot since leaving the petrol station because I was concentrating so much. It was 30km plus from the hotel to the falls so it was quite a distance, my speedometer and taco both didn't work so was totally oblivious to the speed I was going. Well except that in parts I was tanking along :)

The 3-tier Kuang Sii Waterfalls were absolutely spectacular, and the most impressive falls I have ever seen. The water was so clear and actually looked like glacier water it was so blue. After the last 2 hours of stress, it was actually worth the effort of getting here. I really wanted to go swimming and totally chill but it was late afternoon by the time we arrived and we wanted to get back before it got dark so we didn't have long. It was such a shame because I would have loved to have spent a whole afternoon here. We walked up the path stopping the whole way up to admire the falls, then attempted to climb to the top of the 28metre fall but it was totally unsafe in flip flops. We got a quarter of the way up and then decided it was totally ridiculous as it was so steep and slippery we should just turn around. Trying to get back down the small part we had climbed was so dangerous, and we definitely made the right decision to turn around. The boys climbed up as they had trainers on and they said it was even dangerous with proper shoes.

Right next to some of the falls, was a Thai Massage Circus group giving free massages and yoga aerobics. It was a group of 40 people from all over the world that were on a 4 week intense Thai Massage course and they were practising their skills they had learnt. They were so friendly and persuaded the three of us to get a taster of Thai massage. Lauren refused because of her leg but they went and got the trainer dude who did a special massage on her legs and hips to release the tension following her accident. I had a German girl give me a back, neck and shoulder massage and it really was amazing. Just what I needed after being so tense on the bike. I would love to do a course like what they were doing, a lot of them hadn't done any yoga or massage before starting the course and a few of them were medically trained.

We all headed back to the hotel, and the journey back seemed so much quicker. The sun was setting over the mountains and it was gorgeous, we needed our lights on and the traffic was much busier when we reached the town but I got on fine and loved every minute driving my wee pink moped. The wooden bridges with planks you had to aim were a doddle after I got up to them too. They really weren't the safest of roads though, it still was Asia and lorries, bikes, cars would just pull out in front of you.

Oooooo I think I missed an important bit of information... you drive on the right hand side of the road here. So not only did I conquere driving a moped/motorbike here I also managed to drive on the other side of the road. Go me!!!

We all went and returned our bikes and Lauren told them about her crash and the scrapes etc. but they didn't seem bothered at all. They had a quick look over the bike and said it was fine but it certainly wasn't in the same condition as we got it. She had totally imagined the worse and expected to pay a couple hundred dollars or something to get it fixed, so we were all surprised when Eddie got his passport back and nothing was said.

We only had half an hour to get showered and changed before going out for tea and I was shattered by the time we got back to the hotel. I got a new lease of life at the restaurant though, and Lauren and I shared a well deserved bottle of wine.... It went down a treat :) We went to a place called Laos Laos Gardens, where the tables had small type bbq's in the middle and we cooked our own Laos style food. It was a lovely setting, with open fires inbetween the tables but it was smokey and it got to my eyes a bit. The only thing was it was dark as the place was all under candlelight and you couldn't seen whether or not the meat was cooked properly or not. We were all dubious whether or not our tummys would be ok tomorrow.

It was Tom and Kjetil's last night with us so we all headed out to the night market again for some cakes. I went for an orange one and it was so moist and yummy. The boys went for a look around the night market but Nikki, Lauren, Liz, James and I headed to a pub we had been told about by our kayaking guide that would be full of westerners, and he was right! It was totally packed and in a gorgeous setting, it was all outside on the river bank but you had to take off your shoes before entering and it was all chuckies so it was totally painful on your feet. It had smirnoff ices which I hadn't had in months, so I had a couple before it closed at half 11. The boys didn't appear so the five of us headed back to the hotel and I was out like a light. Shattered.com I was :)

I am totally gutted this trip is flying by and it's not long at all until I'm homeward bound :( xxx