Hi there!!

Well its been a very eventful few days!! On the way to Vang Vieng we stopped off in Thiam's village for some tasty chicken soup. Fortunately someone came to interpret for us or we would of looked rather silly just sat there smiling.

The bus journey is a story on its own, it was HOT, it was CRAMMED, and it definately wasn't any fun at all! On the second part of the journey from the village to Vang Vieng Paul had to sit on a stool in the middle of the isle.

Vang Vieng is very pretty although it is a bit too set up for people who just want to get drunk. The scenery (large green mountains with sheer faces) is beautiful. We stayed there two days, Annabel managed to stay in bed for one of them after too much BeerLao. Tubing was great fun and very relaxing, I could of gone back up the river a couple of times.

Next, was the journey to Luang Prabang, in a small, heavily overloaded minibus. We were sat on the very back seats on the twisting and very bumpy roads. This was 100% worse than the journey to Vang Vieng and it lasted around 6 hours. Ouch!

In Luang Prabang we booked onto a day of mahout elephant training. This was one of the best days we have had so far. We got to ride on them, sit on the neck, feed them, learn the words that they respond to and finally bathe them. There are 100's of photo's from the day which when we get a decent internet connection will be uploaded. From there we took a boat up the river to the Tad Se waterfalls and messed around in the amazing natural setting. It was very refreshing to get out of the sticky heat for a while.

Wednesday we took a boat up to the Pak Ou caves where there are 1000's of Budda images, (Annabel thought there were equally as many steps!). Riding along the river is a great way to pass time and take in all the scenery. Luang Prabang is a very beautiful place and the atmosphere at the night market (pictured) is lovely.

Back in Bangkok now after a much easier 1.30 flight! Off to Kanchanaburi tommorow.

Take care

Paul and Annabel xxx