After our wait on the border of thai/laos we got a 14 hour bus to Luang Prabang. We were lucky to wait for the 5 o'clock bus instead of taking the local bus at 11 in the morning as we spoke to two Aussies who told us they took the local bus and ended up being confronted by pirates and the driver was made to pay!! We arrived safely in Luang Prabang (North Laos) at 5.30a.m, we were expecting to arrive later so we hadnt pre booked a hostel. We met 6 other travellers on the bus so we all decided we'd hop on a tuk tuk and try tio find a hostel owner that would be awake to let us in! On the way into the centre we saw lots of tourists with cameras waiting to see the monks all gather for the alms rounds. Locals line the streets with food for the monks at 5.30 to 6.00 everyday. After being annoyed about getting dropped off early it actually worked to our advantage as it meant we didnt have to be up the next day to see it!

The next day we rented out push bikes (not motorbikes this time haha) and cycled around the town. We bumped into two of the girls we met on the bus so we decided to meet for dinner. Turns out the girls are frrom Leeds uni too! The food market in LPB was so colourful and buzzing with energy. Each stand did an all you can eat buffet for 10,000 kip = 80p. It was greatto try all the different foods and on the last night we shared a whole BBQ'd fish stuffed with lemongrass (probably caught in the mucky mekong river no doubt) but it was divine!

In the evenings we spent our time in a bar called Utopia. The last time i travelled here i fell in love with the place. Its set onto the mekong river with al comfy seats, lots of board games and a volley ball pitch. It;s the place that everyone goes to and we ended up meeting lots of cool people. From there we went to a Laos nightclub full of locals...when we arrived we thought it was a motobike shop as there was lirterally hundreds of bikes lined up outside! There is a half 11 curfew in LPB so by the time we had left all the locals had got on their bikes and vanished! Being English we went back to a hostel and carried on drinking!

One of the main attractions in Luang Prabanag are the waterfalls. We had a day trip here and it really was breathtaking. I've never seen a waterfall so big, there was about 5 pools in total and people just spent their day swimming and jumping of rope swings, whilst occasionaly getting biten by the little fish which lined the bottom of the water!! My camera had run out of battery so i didnt get any pictures of the waterfall or the black bear sanctuary, which was upsetting as I don't think I've ever seen a bear before!

After 5 days of relaxing here we got a mini van to Vang Vieng at 1.20, but in Laos time everything is very sloooooow and the bus didnt leave until gone 3! Vang Vieng was once a party town taken over by 50% English, Aussies and Americans and 50% Isralies. The main attraction here is tubing, which is where you hire out a rubber tube for the day and float down the river stopping at the make shift bars along the way. However two weeks before we came it got closed down as the death rates had risen so much they had to bring it to a holt! You can still go down the river (which we did two days in a row) but all the bars have been burnt down and its really eary feeling seeing all the cut down slides, ziplines and rope swings which people used to swing off (and ending in death..). I went two years ago and it was such a different experience. It's such a shame to see how the demands of tourism have effected the small town and the locals.

We have however had a great 5 days here, and again met some really nice people who we are off to meet up with in the capital of Laos tommorrow!

I'm still really enjoying travelling and cant believe i've only been away for 3 weeks x