Laos!

In short: Laos is great, and but we miss China too.

We found out just before we left China that there had been a series of bomb blasts on the local buses in Kunming, so there was LOADS of extra security at the train and bus station. Ignorance is bliss however, so for the first few bus trips before seeing the news we were totally unaware.

We have just finished three days on a trekking tour out of Luang Nam Tha in Northern Laos. It's monsoon season here, so there was water, water everywhere, and the accompanying mosquitoes and mud. The first day was a four hour kayak down the Nam Tha river, which was mostly relaxing due to the volume of water in the river. Pete had great fun falling out in the rapids and cooling himself off. We then spent the next two days walking between villages and staying with the locals. The food was excellent, cooked by the villagers and our guides, although the accommodation was a little rustic. Pete and I have sent our boots home so we did the trek in a pair of sports sandals, complete with mud and leeches. I have a particularly appetising pic of our bloody, wrinkled wet feet on day three. It was certainly nice to have a hot shower at the end of it all. We were also looking forward to doing our washing - all 6kg of it, stinky and damp from so much time in the jungle.

We stayed in Nong Khiaw for two nights and yesterday we caught a boat down the river to Luang Prabang, where we are now. It's a great little city, tropical but full of creature comforts (and not to mention more tourists than we have seen in a long time). We have forked out the princely sum of US$15 for a brand new room with private bathroom.. and that really is expensive for Laos, no joke! This morning we went to the Scandinavian Bakery and enjoyed warm chocolate croissants, toast and coffee. Pete and I are both getting over a little cold so the plan for today is to take it easy and get stuck into the wats and museums tomorrow.