The time flew by in Luang Prabang. We only managed to visit one temple, only because it was the best place to see the sunset however it was so cloudy there wasn't much point to it. We met up with some of the people we chatted to on the boat but didn't really do much until the kayaking. Which was awesome. We met our guide, who didn't turn out to be our guide. Whis was because our guide was late as he was having breakfast so on the way to the river we had to pick up him and the kayaks. Maz looked on in shock as the kayaks were loaded onto the roof of the tuk tuk, double seat kayaks, Ryans first/last kayak experience saw him capsize with in the first 5 minutes. We got dropped of some where and had to carry the kayaks down a path, not your normal grassy path, more rocky, muddy and with really long grass, whilst being heckled by the local villagers. Given a safety talk, well "this is how you paddle a kayak". With that done we climbed in and started paddling but mostly bashing oars, multiple giggles later we managed to get our timing right although we couldn't paddle in a straight line and even managed to rotate 360 degrees. We carefully navigated our way down the river, until the rock we didn't see gave us a fright. Luckly we didn't capsize but had to bum shuffle off the rock. With the brief scare over we paddle for 2 hours to Pak Ou caves. These are 2 caves full of buddha figures and lots of steps. We stopped for lunch then paddled to where we were to met our driver again. The last 20 meters made difficult by local kids hanging off the back of the kayak. We got to sample the rice whisky and rice wine, the wine was okay but the whisky was horrific and burns all the way down. In the evening we decided to have a congratulations meal for not capsizing or drowning. A Lao BBQ. This was amazing, the middle of your table is taken away to reveal a whole that was perfect size for a fire bucket. A interesting frying pan/pot/bbq was put on top and we were give a quick lesson on how to cook with it. We were given some chunks of pork fat to grease the "pan" and some broth to poor round the edge. We also had a plate of raw meats, a basket of vegetables, some eggs, noodles and seasonings. You cooked the vegetables, eggs and noodles in the broth and fried the meat with the pork fat. It was an amazing meal and there was not a scrap left.

Our next stop was Vang Vieng, an infamous tubing spot, basically floating down a river in a giant tyre. The scenery is beautiful so the two hour float down the river was very relaxing, well until you start heading towards fallen trees. After getting stuck in one tree Maz developed a great tactic to avoid them, pull Ryan in front so he hits it and she can bounce of him and around the obstacle!! Whilst in Vang Vieng we also hired a bicycle to check out some caves. This seemed like a great way to get around until you get off the main roads and are on very bumpy and stoney dirt tracks. All of the caves were up millions of steps, so were very happy to find one cave was at the site of a blue lagoon, the source of a natural spring. This was soooooo nice to jump into after a long bike ride.

Phonsavanh was our last stop in Loas. We stopped here because of the Plain of Jars but also found out that it has a whole secret war history. It was bombed heavily during the Vietnamese war. Many of the boms did not detonate and the area is still littered with unexploded bombs. We visited a site that was full of craters. Only a small path has been cleared here for tourists and a unexploded bomb is sitting right next to the path. It is the size of a tennis ball and could easily be mistaken for a rock. The whole area is full of farm land that has not yet be cleared so the farmers and their family take a daily risk working the fields to feed them selves. We also visited a village that had been bombed during the war and has collected the shells of the bombs to use as supports for their houses even as fences.

We visited the 3 sites of the plain of Jars (out of seven) that had been cleared of bombs. The jars are huge concrete pots scattered around the region. No one knows when the jars were made or what they were for although are many theoriesd including food storage, water collection, and funeral pots. They are an amazing sight.

Now for a long night waiting for the 2am bus to Vietnam, on the DEATH ROAD!!!!