Villa Chitdara Luang Prabang

... around the corner from our room!<br><br><br><br>So<br>far our favorite eats are sticky rice (perfect!), the Khai paen &#8211;<br>dried seaweed fried in oil and topped with sesame seeds and garlic<br>cloves &#8211; great with beer, stuffed lemongrass, And the dips and<br>tastes are mouthwatering : jaew beqng is a dip made from chilies and<br>dried water buffalo skin. Don't knock it until you try it!<br><br><br><br>

... to immediately fall in love with the place, which has an incredibly relaxed and peaceful atmosphere, and we found ourselves perceptibly slowing down the moment we arrived. We were staying slightly out of town on the banks of the Nam Khan river at Thong Bay guest house, a collection of wooden chalets set in beautiful gardens with a small terrace looking out over the river. In the evening we went to the main street of the ...

... you towards this guesthouse or that restaurant. Walking the streets in Lao you cannot go half a block without a driver (or 5) calling out "Tuk tuk?" "Waterfall?" "Smoke?" It gets old pretty fast, and I pretty quickly learned to put up a shield, drown out the noise and walk on by. It feels so rude, walking past and ignoring people who call to you, but its really the only way to avoid getting eaten alive out there. <br>Once we shouldered through the touters and found a ...

... enjoying the adventure and I can't complain most of the seats were bolted down. We kept our bags with us as we didn't want them to get soaked or stolen by the bandits working this stretch of road. As always we were comforted when we saw two more westerners on the bus (just incase we have to stick together). I have to say despite the appearance of our bus it went smoothly we didn't even break down and when the windows open up all the way along the bus - who needs air con. <br><br>

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... After the first day we would sleep in a city called Pak Beng. We got to Pak Beng around 6 pm after the first day on the boat. The boat was extremely uncomfortable with little wooden benches, and definetly over capacity. However, the scenery on the way was unbelievable, Rolling hills, tiny villages, local people, and green as far as the eye could see. Anyways, we arrived in Pak Beng and I split a room with two Swiss ...

... 15 foot jump, nothing too crazy, but I've got this thing for seeing how high I can dive from. He cleared the path for the rest of the people that had wanting to do it but didn't feel safe. Jeffery, Marta, and I all climbed up there. I went for the classic swan dive and did not encounter rocks upon hitting the water. Success. We swam for another 15 minutes and decided to get out to go meet Dun. We scored some fried banana on the way out. Interesting idea, it was good. The ride ...

... girls canceled their speedboat and opted for the slower, but i guess presumed less dangerous bus journey! I felt terrible as there was no refunds for the speedboat! We all arose in the morning to catch our respective transports and the girls had already left for the bus. Ben was now separated from his life long friends,as he still wanted to go by speedboat! He began his persistence in convincing me and the Kiwi guy (Milo) to take the girl's ...

... and lush jungle. The river banks were planted in crops and I also saw an elephant helping villagers move lumber. There were other boats on the river: local short distance boats as well as the fast boat.<br> <br> <br><br><br><br><br>We also stopped along the way to pick up and drop off passengers. At one ...

... drivel at an unfortunate and quiet Israeli man the whole way and thus informed the whole bus that she though Lao people were stupid and lazy and other such gems of wisdom and tolerance. At one point, as we were passing through a small ban, she flung a plastic bag full of ice cream cartons (the contents of which she had been guzzling for breakfast) out of the window which hit a small girl of about three who was stood by the side of the road. This action caused the German to shriek a ...