Last day in Huay Xai, we had lunch on the riverside and purchased more sandwiches whilst said our byes to Tom (the others weren't in) and he said don't forget us and see you in three years. Would be lovely to see them again to see if their hopes and dreams come true!

The VIP bus to Luang Prabang, was not so VIP. It was actually the worst journey in my life, 18 hours of sweltering heat, rockiest bumps and possible land-slides; I wasn't sure whether we were going to make it out alive. The bus would not have even passed safety checks in England for sure! The engine was held in by ropes, the front windows were smashed in, the air con wasn't working and there were massive bags of bamboo and potatoes rocking about in the alley and where my feet were supposed to go. They made multiple stops, random pick-ups and drop offs of passengers and items, rocky trip through dirt tracks, many army checkpoints. One stop was at a station of some kind; the toilets were 1000 kip and were absolutely dire. The kitten eating cockroach sent Sam practically screaming and he ran out to just go in the car park. Horrid journey, but we pushed through. It could have been worse, two guys at the back had their seat collapse and had to just deal with it, bless them. Got to Luang Prabang at 8.10 am and were all stupidly exhausted, I for one didn't get a wink of sleep.