Luang Prabang, Laos

We arrived in our second country last night after an epic three day journey! From Chiang Mai six hrs by bus to to Chiang Khong (where we stayed one night) and then ferried across into Laos from where we got our visas and (with a bit of confusion and guesswork) found our way onto the slow boat. We got off the boat and stayed one night in a tiny place called Pak Beng - whilst having dinner we'd see the same people cruise past over and over again as they'd reached the end of the village and then turned around. Then another day on the boat (with very sore bums and an Oreo cookie overdose) and finally disembarked at Luang Prabang. It's as small as a tourist town gets - basically just two parallel roads dotted with guesthouses, restaurants and internet cafes. The waterfront is pretty though and it's easy to cross the roads! They even have pavement here... and pastries and wine. The people so far have been slightly less friendly than the Thais (we're not in the Land of Smiles anymore, sob) - they tend to look at us as if we are insane whenever we ask anything or order something or whatever! Maybe they will grow on us though. At least they are not as persistent as the Bangkok tuktuk drivers. So we're probably sticking around for a couple of days, eating some pastries, making some daytrips to some waterfalls or caves from here and then we'll get the bus to Vientiane (about 9- 11 hours' journey). We're in a nice guesthouse here so not in any major rush to move! Also somehow our Lao visa is for 30-days, not the expected 15, so we're not under any pressure time-wise. Once we get to Vientiane we'll be applying for the Vietnamese visa there. The speed at which we get this will probably determine the length of our stay!

As a postscript to C's last entry, we spent the last couple of days in Thailand having waterfights with the locals to celebrate Songkran (Buddhist New Year). I got myself a green bucket and C got a little pink one.. (yeah, seriously)! We got absolutely drenched ... and our revenge. There were big barrels of water by the side of the road with gangs of kids clustered around them to refill their weapons and pickup trucks crammed with people who were basically 'drive-by-shooters'... they'd get you when you were least expecting it and would be gone before you could get your own back! The whole water connection seemed to have originated from their tradition of dunking their Buddha statues in water as part of the new year. We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and see the parade go by with all the statues. Everyone lined up and sprinkled (or drenched) them with water as they went past. Very colourful and fun to watch!