OK so my blog is shamefully out of date and I thought I better do something about it. In my defence internet in Ａｓｉａ is flipping slow!! Anyway enough of the excuses, where was I....

Oh yes floating down the river in Laos, possibly one of the best journeys I`ve ever taken. It`s not comfortable but if you can find a comfy spot (mine was on the floor resting against the baggage with a group of Aussie and British travellers) and you`ve got a good book and company then the time just flies by.

The first day was 9 hours on the boat passing small villages and families doing their washing along the way. The scenery was amazing and we`d go from large stretches of river surrounded by forest to narrow gorges with large rocks rising up out of the water. We were sailing at the end of the dry season and the river was low but in the rainy season these boulders would be covered by water. As the driver dodged around them I thought he must know the river really well...well I hoped he did.

We stopped for the night in Pak Beng, a village by the side of the Mekong. It seems to be mainly a collection of guest houses to serve the boat route but it served it`s purpose.

The next day was less comfortable. Even in Laos it seems there`s economies of scale and they`d sent our two boats from the previous day away and instead we were herded onto one boat that was only slightly larger. It was cramped and more cramped, no comfy spot on the floor this time. But there was still a bar on board and more people to chat to. The scenery was even more beautiful and when I managed to find a spec outside at the front of the boat I was happy. Steaming along in sunny weather with good music and beerlaos - brilliant! We stopped alot along the way this time to let people on and off at riverside villages which was both interesting and a bit hairy at times pulling in and off the riverbank.

After only six hours we were all surprised when we pulled into Luang Prabang. My first thought was that there was a pretty temple by the river side - I don`t really think something should be mapped as a Jetty when it`s a plank of wood onto the river bank, but hey that was just my thought as I walked the plank for the last time.

Finally in Luang Prabang we met with the usual cluster of insistent guest house reps and of course ended up staying somewhere totally different in price and facilities than we`d been told, but it was cheap, clean and us girls even had a TV with cable in our room!