Australia day started with a gorgeous breakfast, banana pancakes again, baguette and some fruit. It was a misty morning and by the time we got to our boat on the Mekong it was quite chilly!

Today we head from Pakbeng to Luang Prabang, should take about 6hours. The vegetation is still green and lush with small villages found in the mountains and the Lao people working on the banks of the mekong. Some of the rocks in the river are quite large say between 5-10m high, in the wet season these would be underwater! It's hard to comprehend the water rising that much!

A few hours into the normally peaceful trip, Paap was sitting and mind her own business when a large wave of water came over the side of the boat and messed her up. I mean really messed her up. I couldn't stop laughing for at least 5mins after. I am still chuckling about it now as I write about it. Good times...

I also got an impromptu salsa lesson from Pip on deck. I have some way to go but it's pretty cool, maybe dance lessons when I get back!

Our lunch was provided by the family that owned the boat. It was traditional Lao food today, we had a chicken & potato curry, pork lap, stir fried vegetables, deep fried fish with chilli, sticky rice and paw paw for dessert. It was so yummy!

Late in the afternoon we stopped at Pak Ou caves, about an hour away from Luang Prabang. There are two caves, Tham Ting & Tham Phum. Each cave has thousands of Buddha images inside. The second cave can be reached only by climbing up over 200 stairs, phew! To be honest, they are a little odd and not very well preserved. Wouldn't be rushing to see those again!

Back on the boat, my fellow Australians Paap, Tony, Lindsay and I, cracked our first beer lao for the day in preparation for arrival into Luang Prabang! Cheers!