This my 3rd day in Vang Vieng and I can't say that I'm sad to be leaving tomorrow to head back to Luang Prabang. There is very little here in the way of culture. However, if you are particularly fond of smelling mouldy vomit everytime you go in the bathroom I can recommend a delightful place called Malany Villas. There is a nice chilled out vibe but it feels like the whole town was just made for tourists so it just consists of street after street of restaurants...

We crossed the border from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Vientiane, Laos on 26th September and headed straight for Luang Prabang, passing through Vang Vieng on the way. It was the most horrible journey- 26 hours in total, swapping between 4 or 5 minivans on the way. When we first got picked up we thought that the minivan would be taking us to a larger coach for the rest of the journey but no... the tiny, cramped, non-reclining back seats on the minivan would be our hom...

We did a 3 day trek in Chiang Mai. It was probably the best 3 days of my life?! We rode elephants, trekked in day and night, saw so many different kinds of creatures, got taught about what you can and can't eat in the jungle, learnt how to chop bamboo with our machetes so we were able to make rat traps, stayed a night in a hill tribe village where we sang and danced with them all night, went bamboo rafting down a river AND swam in a waterfall with a natural slide...

Stayed at Chiang Mai Inn in Chiang Mai. Lovely little place and incredibly friendly staff. We booked our trek through them and glad we did! We went to 3 temples as we wondered around the town- the largest temple was offering 'Monk Chat'. Nope, not a dating service, but an opportunity for the monks to improve their English and us to improve our knowledge of all things... monkey? The 2 I spoke to were 23 and get up every day at 5am to meditate. They can't have jobs...

'Magic lands lie all around,Inside, outside, underground.Looking-glass world still abound.All their tales this truth reveal,Naught but love makes magic real.'- Salman Rushdie No, Rushdie, I don't think any amount of love would make Khao San Road a 'magic land'. The room in our hostel had no windows and was home to some ant-like creatures. Jamie met us and slept on our floor to save himself some money #savvysaver. The £6 buckets we had were infact lethal as the ...