The Laos experience!

Well so much has happened since we last posted a message. And it has all been Jolly exciting.

Monday 12th
Left Chaing Mai with Hilster ready for an adventure. We journeyed to the border in a minivan and stayed in a delightful hostel - not really, it was smelly, the toilet water sometimes flushed the floor and it was pretty basic. The beds were clean however!

Tuesday 13th
We had two choices both seeming to us a little hairy. We could either take a slow boat to Luang Prabang which would take two days or a speed boat that would cover the same distance in only 8hours. Although we usually like the speedy option that wasn't the choice we took after seeing what the speed boat looked and sounded like. Seven people squashed in a little boat with helmets on and ear defenders to cut out the din of the engine! Hilster and I (Nat) thought that not being able to talk for 8 hours might be an issue!!! So on Tuesday we boarded the slow boat and enjoyed a bottom aching journey for 7 hours. woo woo woo! The views were stunning, really, really beautiful! We arrived at our destination and stayed in another beautiful - not really, place of accomadation. I then vowed that I'd pay whatever it took to no longer stay in places like that, gone are the days where I'm willing to slum it!

Wednesday 14th
The adventure continued with us embarking on another bottom aching journey surrounded by bags of rice and other goodies and fellow backpackers bound for luang prabang. Our journey began at 8am supposedly! But we spent an hour watching the locals loading and unloading the same boxes for no apparent reason - welcome to Asia we thought! Again, the scenary was spectacular!
On arrival we were mobed by friendly locals either offering us very 'cheep cheep' accomadation or very 'cheep cheep tuk tuk' (All said very quickly!!!) After keraning form experience the toilet water expereince fresh in my mind that it was okay to shop around and choose the accomadation we liked. Hillster, Jon and I all enjoyed acting like hotel guide shoppers!
Luang Prabang is awesome!

Thursday and Friday 15/16th
Hired bikes (one speed) and Jonny tweaked the brakes as they were non existent! After tweaking still pretty non existent but learnt to brake in advance! Cruised the enchanting streets snapping as we went moving from one cafe to the next! Jonny took his "angels" on a magical mystery tour - off road biking on pot hole tracks! The locals pointed and smiled encouragingly as they shot past on their motorbikes! Jonny was in his element and it was better than any aerobics class!!!
After all the cafes, our money was running low and in true Asia style it took us several hours to find a bank who didn't have any random excuse for not giving us money!
Friday was spent travelling by truck through jungle clad hills, rice paddies and Laos villages to reach the most amazing waterfall - the hidden Victoria Falls!! Jonny's attempts at taking a photo of Hillster and me under the waterfall resulted in us being absolutely drenched. When we arrived back he had the cheek to ask how we got so wet!! Jonny enjoyed pretending he was James Bond as he swam, climbed and explored the waterfall!