after a short ride from our overnight stop in northern thailand we headed to the border crossing, a short ferry ride accorss the mekong put us in laos. we passed reliatively hassle free throught border control and made a bee line for the atm to get some local currency called kipp.. we felt quite rich after each getting 60,000 kipp and hopped in a mini bus to then take us to our slow boat, where we would spend the next 2 days travelling south to Luangprabang.

After being told that there was a new highway and we could upgrade to a bus that would only take 8 hours we were pretty much sold, and happy at the thought of not spending 2 days on a boat, especially one called a "slow" boat. It didnt materialise due to rhumors that it was a scam, so we decided to rough it and get on the boat. the boat was about 8 foot wide and probably 70 long, with a mound of bags at one end, about 10 rows of wooden benches that could seat two and then the back half, which was already occupied by those who wernt contemplating the bus journey and got on the boat first, by what were luxuary seats in comparrison, they looked like they were lifted form a coach and bolted into this wooden vessel.

we secured two benches and em had told us to buy cushions before we left.. some golden advice as per... the boat left and soon the benches were disguarded for the relative comfort of the wooden floor, where we played a few games to pass the time...

the 1st day was ok... we had brought some food with us and water for the trip to our overnight stop where we would refuel and stock up for the next day.. we soon realised our money wasnt going far when gaz and dean brought some beers.. and pretty much they were spent out.. ed had spent his on junk as usual and i thankfully so brough a sandwhich.. before leaving i had paid the deposit for some rooms for the night and still had a littel bhat left over... the real problems started when we pulled up to the overnight stop to find there were no atm's and nowhere took cards..!!! i had paid the 300 bhat for one room and 100 deposit for the other.. leaving 200 to pay.. which is about 4 pounds!! not alot.. but it is when you dont have it.. !!!! which we didnt... luckily our situation spread amongst the others on the boat pretty fast and one girl came down and bailed us out and loanded us money for the room....!! phew...

the next problem was dinner!!! we had no food and were all pretty hungry.. so out came the shrapnal we had left in various currencies... a few hk dollars, a pound here and a euro there.. we were haggiling for some bread and butter with what we had.. luckily again our fellow slowboatians saved us, and embarrsiingly paid for us to have some chicken and rice...

the next day was like hell for us... i was feeling ill because i took my maleria tablet on an empty stomach... and was sick and we were all hungry.. we got ont the boat with a bottle of water between us and some long faces...

we set off around 9am and everyone got rid of their benches to sit on the floor.. for the next 8 hours our stomachs grumbled and we were made to watch as everyone clever enought to get a decent amount of money out stuffed their faces and drank beer... needless to say it wasnt much fun... but we pushed through and arrived a few hours earlier than some people said we would...

leaving the boat we made our way past the haud of hotel touts and straight to the atm not making the same mistake again.. 700,00 each would see us straight and that our bellies would be adequatly compenasted... next stop was luamprabang pizza..!! we didnt care.. we stuffed ourselves...

luamprabang is beautifull, small cobbled streets, a nice night market quaint french style building and some great shops... the towns not very big and everthing closes at around 10 pm... except for a few bars that open a little longer... once the bars shut.. the thing to do in laos is go to the bowling alley.. where they can due to some lop[ hole still serve alcohol.. :) so thats what we did..

we pretty much did nothign in luamprabang.. just relaxed, had a great room that we didnt want to leave and managed to get in a tuk tuk to a very impressive water fall with swimming holes.. me and dean also got up early on our last day and visited a wat with a very mpressive view of luangrabang.. we had booked our flights here, that would take us from our final destination in laos to vietnam..

Vang vien was a 5 hour "vip" minibus ride further south.. Its famous for getting in an old innertube and floating down the river stopping at riverside bars and swinging from ziplines and rope swings.. and well when in rome..!! the 1st day we left ed behind as he was a bit under the weather, and went Tubing... wow... so much fun..!! we decided to get an earlyish night and do the same again but with ed this time... we all had a blast... and had met up with some people from our slow boat.. and dint make it half as far down the river as we had the previous day.. i blame it on beer lao and samsung buckets.. a lovely blend of lao whiskey, coke and some redbull that we heard contained anphetamins!!?? we climbed out when it got dark and tuk tuk'ed back to enjoy the more lively night life that was on offer here compared to luamprabang..

on our final day in luamprabang, we got some radical news... gaz sat us down and told us he was missing home and travelling wasnt for him.. later that day he had booked his flights home from the capital which would be our next stop.

Another bus took us to the capital vientiane where we found our way to a hotel.. gaz's flight was the next day and ours was the day after that.. we didnt do alot here, there wasnt really much to do.. other than explore the shops selling conterfit goods and enjoy the bakery who had a bakery in luamprabang which we frequented.. departure day for gaz arrived, we all went with him to the airport to say our goodbyes and after visited pha that luang, you will see form the photos an empressive golden wat. its the most important national monument in laos..after our sight seeing we grabed some dinner and the next day headed to the airport ourselves... destination vietnam..!!