Monks and croissants in Luang Prabang...

As usual, after dropping our gear off in the hotel (very hard to find!) and after managing to completely perplex a laos hotelier with my bolsover brogue, we headed out into the chilly night air to finally explore luang prabang. Although we only saw a couple of streets we instantly got the feeling that we were somewhere special. Luang Prabang is unesco listed which means, thankfully, the town has a ban on cars and busses after 6pm which makes it one of the nicest places you can think of to stroll around. Again, it could be argued, much like Hoi An in Vietnam, Yangshuo in China or Siem Reap in Cambodia, that this is not a fair representation of the wider area, just an artificial tourist bubble. You know what, screw it, it's just bloody great, nevermind if some 'seasoned' travellers say it's not an authentic Laos experience, what do they want? To scrap that in favour of smothering ourselves in mud and eating weeds, just to be 'authentic'. I sound like a bitter old fool but some other travellers you meet are about as annoying as being made to sit in a room with Nigella Lawson or Fearne Cotton, always looking down on other travellers for not fitting into this archetypal traveller who strives to make life as hard for themselves as is humanly possibly....

After eating a traditional Laos meal of Luang Prabang sausage (think coarse sausage meat with a massive hint of lemongrass-truly delicious) and stir-fried beef, we headed back to the hotel, a 15mins walk out of town. Although in Laos, Luang Prabang, by south-east Asian standards anyway, is an expensive place. Due to it's beauty and unesco status it happens to attract an older, more wealthy crowd which in turn has pushed the price of accommodation through the roof. We were staying in a nice place run by lovely people but the best we could do on our budget was quite a walk away. We probably need the exercise after 2 months eating baguettes!

Anyway, the next day, after an incredible sleep, we decided to go exploring, to really get a feel of the place. After stopping for an overpriced and disappointing breakfast we headed off into the ever-warming day. We walked up the large central hill to take in the views and to try and release some birds! Basically lots of women have tiny birds in extremely small wicker cages, hundreds of them, for you to buy and then release at the top, for good luck. It's a terrible sight, these birds can't even flap it's so small. Just another small example of asia's complete disregard for animal rights, it truly is non-existent! I had to fight back the urge to 'liberate' the poor things in a swift but ultimately bold move. Shell told me I couldn't...

After climbing back down we then hit the streets, to search out the river and the numerous temples that surround the old town. As we strolled along the river the smells were unbelievable, like sitting in an English garden on a hot summers day, maybe pint in hand. It's the first time we have been in a climate cool enough for smells like that to appear, it's usually been suffocatingly hot.

Making our way around another huge wat, luang prabang's largest, we were amazed at the intricacy of the tile mosaics that adorned the several temples. We saw yet more giant buddha's (I have a feeling it won't be the last) all in different positions, something we have learned the meaning of. If you have a Buddha at home with arms open, placed on legs, this is meditation. If he has his arms folded, this be enlightenment. And so on...

After catching a very rickety bamboo raft over to the other side of the river we had a drink at a very very cool place that had individual candlelit bamboo huts, almost like tree houses, for you to drink in. We stayed there a while before heading back to the hostel just before dark (bamboo rafts-fast flowing river-the dark-2 Laos teenagers as captain-no ta!). After a good old day sight seeing we grabbed some quick Laos curry, similar to Thai i.e with coconut milk, before heading around the myriad stalls of the nightmarket on the way back to the hotel.

The following morning we were picked up at around 11, along with an english-indian couple from Nottingham, to go to luang prabangs most famous waterfall, around 30kms away. As we drove through the lush Laos countryside it dawned on you just how pretty this country can be. It's almost, I guess, much like being back in an old English countryside summer, in say 1876. Almost like jumping head first into a Constable painting. The waterfalls themselves were immense, around eight different levels in total, slowly climbing to the 45 metre falls at the top of the gorge. It produced the bluest water imaginable and although ice cold, lots of people braved the conditions to jump in! The only thing wrong I guess were the crowds, some of them the most annoying type i.e loud, obnoxious and generally have no clue whereabouts they are. Despite the crowds we had an awesome time which was reinforced by the adjoining bear sanctuary. The bears, all moon bears due to their crescent markings on their chest, have been confiscated from poachers who had used the bears to farm their bile, a popular ingredient in Chinese medicine. Another caring plus point for the medievally insane superpower-to-be. In fact, by reading bits and pieces whilst being here it becomes increasingly apparent that the Chinese play a big part in pretty much all negative aspects of Laos natural environment as millions of hectares of pristine forest are illegally logged every day to satisfy china's ever increasing demand for natural resources. It's an atrocious state of affairs.

Back in town we searched out the same central restaurant for Laos curry before heading back to the hotel to pack and huhum...watch football. It's a sad state of affairs in a way that I've been able to watch more football here in Asia than I ever would have at home. We haven't planned our days around fixtures or anything but because of the time difference we have been able to get back after a packed day and watch a game late at night, I say we I mean me, firmly me...

In the morning we waited outside for our tuk-tuk to the airport but were to be surprised when a small black sports car pulled up playing adele at it's highest volume possible. We were duly told to put our bags in and off we went to the airport! On the way I tried to tell him that a guy his age needed to replace his god awful noise with a bit of rolling stones or at least the Beatles but he was having none of it! Why do we have to export all of our crap!

Arriving at the airport we checked in with no hassles before boarding our propellered plane of dreams that would take us over the border and to chiang Mai, to begin our two month Thailand adventure!

We wish we had spent more time in Laos but I guess we saw the highlights. It's hard but Laos biggest attraction is surely it's natural beauty, which to truly appreciate means heading out into the countryside. Due to Laos having the unenviable title of having the most unexploded bombs and mines of any country in the world, to head out into the interior without proper knowledge and guides is suicidal.

Laos other great asset, it's incredibly mellow people, is something you can experience anywhere. This we did in abundance.

Anyway, onwards!! Feels as though we are late to the Thailand party as lots of friends have been here before to this greatly visited country but we are truly excited about the months ahead!

Love as always, Tommo (with ever increasing mouth pain)

Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang...

Day two of the vang vieng tubing experience began in much the same fashion as the first. Heading out into the ghost town that is vang vieng before 11am in the morning you could have heard a pin drop as the previous nights exploits take their toll on the temporary population. The town itself is ok, it's relatively compact and filled to the brim with only two kinds of establishments, shops selling the obligatory vang-vieng merchandise (vests, fake ray bans etc) and bar-come restaurants. In fact these places are famous in their own right due to an odd insistence for playing either friends or family guy non-stop, 24 hours a day, all on big screens. We aren't just talking about a couple of bars here, we are talking about possibly fifty of them, all next to each other essentially providing the same freakish service. Thing is, along with exactly the same menus, are catering, in their eyes anyway, for what westerners are used to back home. It's a strange proposition that these people think that all we do back home is watch cartoons and eat cheese toasties.

Anyway, as we prepared to head down for more tubing fun it started to dawn on me, with a little help from mum, just how much my brother Ady would have loved this kind of thing. You could just imagine him now, hands flayling, head stuck in one of the whisky buckets, dancing like he'd put his hands and feet in a campfire and was trying to cool them down. I think in a way he was there, he must have been to see me struggling to get to grips with quite possibly the worst music and worlds thickest people all in one spot. You see I'm trying not to be one of those bitter snobs stood on the sidelines, we actually met some top people on both days, but it's hard to imagine how some of these lads got here if they have the inability to produce speech. Anyway, despite some initial sadness we attempted to lift ourselves by ordering a 'bucket' of gin and tonic. A classy green bucket full of half a bottle of gin and seemingly, nothing much else, after we gave ady a good old toast the bucket, in about thirty minutes, was gone. As the day progressed and as we loosened up both the people and the music started to become intoxicating. After a blur of five hours dancing on a bamboo dancefloor, almost in the middle of the jungle, we found ourselves in the back of a tuk-tuk with two other Aussies sat discussing our impressive moustaches in aid of Movember, to promote testicular cancer awareness. Shell, alas, had shaved hers off just a couple of days before...

Back in town we drank a couple more beers before eating something (we don't really have any recollection of what it was) before heading back to our room to try and sleep before our seven hour journey up over the mountains towards luang prabang, in the morning.

For some reason, unbeknown to us really, we felt quite apprehensive about coming to vang vieng. We'd heard all the stories and read everything about it before we came so I don't know whether we thought we were too old, wouldn't enjoy it being in a couple or just wasn't our scene. In the end we had a great time. You can see why some people despise it though. You couldn't be further away from Laos if you tried, but for a couple of days it's fine. Besides, when would you be able to ride a tractor inner tube Down a river whilst having whiskey poured into your mouth again? Vang vieng itself has somehow managed to be transformed into some kind of inland magaluf, but with even more mentalists. You have to feel for the locals but by speaking to a few the influx of farang has brought with it great wealth. Read a bit further and you find the town completely unified in how it's all run, by combining all tubing profits into large cartel type organisation. Which in itself, is kind of refreshing. Compared to something like halong bay in Vietnam which has at least a hundred operators all working the route at the same time, destroying any sense of being somewhere far removed.

In the morning we packed in preparation for another bus journey. This time to the UNESCO listed city of luang prabang, 160kms to the north. To get there we would have to drive along, apparently, one of the most beautiful and dramatic roads not just in Laos but anywhere in the world. They would not by lying.

As we headed north out of vang vieng the road continued to wind itself up into the lush green mountains, passing small bamboo houses every now and again that seemed to be held up by nothing more than small twigs that supported the whole structure from falling 1000 feet below. The scenery was, even this early on, quite spectacular. After stopping briefly so the driver could eat we were on our way once more convinced that we had probably gone about half way. Oh how wrong two people can be. The journey was epic, in every way. For eight hours the poor bus wound up and over mountains as large as Ben Nevis but along roads that if were a dog, would be one of those vicious strays with bits of fur and skin missing. As soon as you think you are maybe just a few miles away, because your at the bottom of another valley, the bus begins it's long and arduous journey back over the mountain, all to the collective sighs of the people on the bus.

After seven long and ultimately frustrating hours we arrived in luang prabang in the dark and jumped onto one of the waiting tuk-tuks to take us to our hotel.

We are looking forward to the next few days and what this supposedly beautiful town has to offer. We have also decided to splash out and buy a couple of plane tickets to chiang Mai and the start of our thai adventure.

Mucho lovo, Tommo xxxx