Hi!

So I'm well into the Laos journey now. It all started last week when I left Chaing Mai. I had to get a minibus for 6 hours to the Thai/Laos border. I was lucky with my minibus because everyone was really nice. That night we stayed at a guesthouse on the border (but still in Thailand). We were staying right by the river and one side is Thailand then the other side is Laos, it was very weird. There was literally nothing in the town but we managed to find a bar which played films and we bought a bottle of Thai whiskey which is 80% so it was a good night.

The next morning we had to be ready to leave at 7am, and they took us in a minibus to a boat which went over the river, about 100 metres and we were in Laos. We went through the passport inspection which was very chilled out and then loaded onto our sloboat which is the famous journey of Laos. You have to travel down the Mekong river for 2 days before you get to Luang Prabang which is one of the main towns in Laos.

We were on the boat for 7 hours on the first day, and you are literally sitting on a tiny wooden bench which is so uncomfortable. Luckily we had bought some cushions so it wasn;t too bad. It was absolutley boiling though and the boat kept on stopping to let Laos people off to their houses which were in the middle of nowhere. There really isn;t anything in Loas unless you are in the main towns, we were in the boat for ages but all you can see is HUGE mountains and tiny little huts. I don't know how people live in them!

The first night we stopped at a random little town which is there just for the tourists who get off the slow boat. The electrivity cuts out at 10:30pm so we had to make sure we had dinner early. I tried buffalo Lah which is a Laos speciality but I wan;t very impressed. Thai food is much better.

The conversion is ridiculous in Laos. There currency is the kip and there is about 17,000 kip to a pound so it takes forever to work out how much things cost. They also except US dollars and thai baht so you could get a price in baht, pay in dollars but get change in kip. They must just give us however much money they want because nobody can figure it out.

When the electricity went out that first night, all the bugs came out. It was crazy. They have HUGE flying beetles, lizards, crickets, cockroaches etc but they are mad in Laos. They just fly straught into your face. Everyone was constantly screaming and running around, it was pretty funny. We even saw a preying mantis which was pretty cool.

Me and Sara (girl from Bristol) shared a room that night and when we were walking back with a candle a HUGE moth came flying at the flame. I was holing the candle so was running around screaming like mad, and she was shouting at me to be quiet. In the end I just threw the candle on the floor. Then there was a lizard on our door which we had to try and get rid of before we could open the door. THEN...when we got in the room there were crickets all over the floor so we had to stand on them but we were screaming as we did it!! It was a pretty crazy night and we were thinking what the hell are we doing in this country!!

The next morning it was raining so it was much cooler on the boat. We were on the boat for 8 hours the next day but we had sussed out how to make it comfortable so we got rid of all the benches and just had cushions all over the floor. The journey wasn't too bad and as it was cool we could even have a cup of tea! Its a great place to meet other traveller too so we had a big gang of us by the end of it.

That night we found a great guesthouse run by a woman who makes you call her mama and constantly gives you bananas even if you don't want them! Luang Prabang is a really nice town but there is an 11:30pm curfew so all the bars shut. Mama let us stay out until 1am and then she said we'd be locked out but some guys we met had a 11pm curfew or they'd be locked out!

The next day we went to a great waterfall which we didn't think was that impressive at first but then we started walking further up and it was actually about 10 waterfalls, getting more impressive as you walked further on. That night we planned to go out early so that we wouldn't mind going home so early. We needed to book a minibus to Vang Vieng for the next morning but we were worried that we would miss happy hour so we didn't bother. Then we drank alot and at 11:30 we weren;t ready to go home so we went to the only place that is still open.....a bowling alley! It is really weird because everyone heads there to keep drinking! We played a game too and I only 15 points......surprisingly though I didn't even lose! It was a really funny night and we managed to get back into the guesthouse even though we didn;t get home until 2:30am.

The next morning I packed up my stuff and left with 2 english guys (Rich and James) to get a minibus but they had all already left for Vang Vieng. We managed to get a VIP bus (!!) which was supposed to be leaving at 11am so we went running down to the bus station but then realised that they meant that the bus arrives at 11am but doesn't actually leave until 2pm. The VIP bus was actually the most disgusting bus I have ever seen! The boys kept on blaming me for 'forcing' them to go to happy hour instead of booking a minibus!

The journey was really horrible. It was boiling hot with no aircon so we had to hang out of the windows. Then we passed another bus that had broken down so they all had to get on our bus and then it was totally packed! The bus was supposed to take 6 hours but was more like 8 hours in the end, we weren't in the best moods when we arrived. We just went for some dinner and then straight to bed.

It seems really chilled out in Vang Vieng so we are going to have a day of wandering around and fuguring stuff out. The main thing to do here is tubing. They take you about 5km up the river and then you come down it in a rubber tube but there are bars all along the river so you wave at the one you want to stop at and they throw you a rope to pull yourself in! Thats probably what we'll be doing tomorrow. The other guys from our slow boat will all be coming through Vang Vieng over the next week so it will be good to see all of them again.

I'm gald to here that you guys are actually getting a bit of sunshine. It is boiling in Laos but its supposed to be monsoon season so we've been pretty lucky so far because it has only rained once.

That's all for now xxxx