Nammavong Guesthouse Luang Prabang

Hello there We've arrived in Luang Prabang (yesterday, 11th December), via a terrifying 6 hour bus trip through the mountains. Think of those car ads when some posh 4x4 zooms along mountain passes and around steep hairpin bends. Then replace the 4x4 with a little minibus (luggage on roof) and add a load of villages along route with puppies, chickens, cows and children scattered across the road. But keep the zooming bit. We had front seats so got to almost leap through the roof in fright whene...

We woke up early to get our slow boat tickets and ensure that we had a seat (after reading lots of crazy stories about 100+ people being crammed on the boats!) however the Laos people are very relaxed about things and we didn't get picked up until 9:30, 1 1/2 hours after we were told to collect our tickets! Luckily the boat wasn't full and didn't end up leaving until 11:50! There were around 80 people on our boat so we had more than enough room to move about during the first 6 hour stint. The...

March 25 2008 10pm Well we are in Luang Prabang and the slow boat was rather enjoyable, it is the kind of thing you have to do at least once when in Laos, But it was very slow. Here is the whole story, starting from our trip to Chiang Khong. We checked the night before and sure enough there are lots of buses that go to Chiang Khong from Chiang Rai, just nothing that is air conditioned, unless you get a private minibus, but those people are getting ripped off, which seems to happen a lot as yo...

I'm in Luang Prabang, Laos, a disappointingly touristy town on the banks of the Mekong River. It's pouring down rain. The contrast with yesterday's travel experience is stark. Yesterday morning, we started in Vientiane and took a VIP bus north to LP, a trip I'd highly recommend. Once we were out of the ticky-tacky of the strip development along the highway north of Vientiane, and once we had gotten a transmission linkage problem cleared up, we started up into the mountains. Rice fields slowly...

Hi all

In a city in Laos now called Luangprabang. Got here yesterday after a hellish 6 hours on the bus through twisty bumpy mountain roads. Not dangerous but very uncomfortable! Our last day in Vang Vieng we went back on the water kayaking and visited a cave just off the river. You had to walk through water neck deep to get in there and I freaked a bit and had to get out of there. Good thing too because Lucy went the whole way in with the guide and it was pitch dark in there and there...

Hi all!

Yet more blogging today because it's miserable and raining. Can hardly find a seat in the internet cafes because they're so full of backpackers today. I think ye all stole our weather!

Went to those caves yesterday but we were a bit lazy and stayed in bed for ages! Got a river boat at about 2.30 but didn't realise that it took about 2 hours to get to the caves. River boat was fabulous but the novelty sort of wore off after the first hour! By the time we got to the caves ...

Salut tout le monde!!!! J'écris ce blog en français parce que mon père me l'a demandée. Il me l'a demandée parce qu'a ce moment nous sommes en Laos, et Laos a étè colonisé par la France et quelque gens parlent français ici.   Nous sommes arrivés en Laos le 23 décembre suite à un voyage d' autobus de 11 heures. C'était l'enfers!!!!!! L'autobus sentait de poisson pourrit et de pied sales. On a parlé a quelqu'un et il nous a dit qu' un enfant avait uriner sur le bus.  A la frontière entre la Chi...