Got woken up a few times during the night by fighting dogs and crowing roosters but all in all not a bad nights sleep. After a cold shower and delicious breakfast of pancake and banana we walked from our hotel to embark on our slow boat journey along the Mekong river from Huay Xai to Pakbeng. The scenery is made up of lush green mountains and rocky outcrops. Quite brilliant. Is very relaxing floating down the Mekong, the boat is very clean and comfortable with ...

We have now arrived in Laos and met our local guide Savat. We are in the town of Huay Xai. When there we went via immigration and paid our visa fee, apparently $1 more for us as we arrived 2mins after 4pm (!), and headed off to our guesthouse. Paap and I had a simple room with single beds, blue flooring, shower with no curtain or glass (so water goes on everything in bathroom) old mismatched towels not big enough to cover me and many posters from the 90's onward...