Laos continued ...

We spent our last couple of days recovering in Luang Prabang and enjoying the local food stalls, perusing the huge night market, visiting wats and getting up early to watch the monks receive alms from the locals.

Billy Bunter doesn't know what to do with himself!

The never-ending night market

The view of Luang Prabang from Phousi hill

The monks collecting alms

One of the many Wats

A jaunty bike ride around town

After our shocking bus ride and information from others and Lonely planet we decided not to repeat the experience on a boat so in true flashpacker style we treated ourselves to a luxury 2 day, 1 night boat cruise up the river Mekong to cross the border into Thailand.
After ANOTHER early start we boarded the boat, only 20 people and so much room, what's going on!!? We had a continental breakfast and enjoyed soaking up the scenery as it passed. We made 2 stops on the first day. The first at the Pak Ou caves, now a Buddhist shrine housing over 2000 images of Buddha.

A few of the 2000 Buddha images in the Pak ou caves

The second at a local hill village that specialised in weaving and lao Lao Whisky that only three of us dared to taste. John and I being two of them unsurprisingly! It tasted similar to Sake. The village had a small temple and Buddhist monastery. The village housed 180 people, comprising of 38 families. The women lined the path with their colourful fabrics as we walked past the huts on stilts.

I wish I had more room in my suitcase!

Relaxing with a drink towards the end of the first day

After 10 hours we arrived at the half way point, Pak Beng, for an overnight stay in a lodge. This was a gorgeous resort which we arrived in just as the sun was setting.

The view from Luang Say Lodge

We enjoyed a local dinner and watched some children showing off their tribal costumes with singing and dancing. We even had to join in at the end... yes even John!

ANOTHER early start and back onto the boat. We again spent the day cruising up the river, being fed and watered with only one stop at a Hmong Village. On arrival about 20 children surrounded us selling their wares and continued to follow us wherever we went. These people are so poor that it's impossible not to feel guilty and part with some of your money.

How could you not buy a bracelet from these children?!!

We viewed inside one of the huts which was still like something out of the stone age.

The village granny took a shine to John (as most granny's do!) and wouldn't leave him alone. In the end he managed to get rid of her by paying her off for a couple of photos. They did have fun as he made her laugh.

Our entourage and you can just see John's granny in the blue flowery hat chasing him down the hill!

We boarded the boat and headed up to the Thai border crossing with Laos on one riverbank and Thailand on the other. The border crossing was a confusing military operation by tuk tuk, a small boat, another small boat carrying our luggage, passport control out of laos and another into Thailand. Thank goodness for our guide! Then it was onto another minibus for a 2 hour ride to Chiang rai for the night, where the most exciting thing that happened was a large cockroach running over John's foot during dinner! We boarded a bus the next morning for Chiang Mai - a surprisingly easy process!