The journey to Luang Prabang was a bit of a nightmare. It started off in Phnom Penh where I flew to Vientiane without any problems. I then had to wait another 3 hours to get the overnight bus and what a bus it was! I was sat right at the back underneath two huge fan-heater things that were really noisy. They had oversold the bus so there were people sat on deckchairs in the middle of the aisle. There was an emergency exit door at my feet that was held in place by a belt! It wasn`t very well secured as it kept swinging open 10 inches every time we turned a corner! And to top it all we were driving through a terrific lightening storm. It was crazy and this was the “VIP”bus!

Still I managed to get some sleep and arrived in Luang Prabang safe and sound the following morning. The town was buzzing as that weekend there was a festival going on to celebrate the end of the rainy season or something. Basically this involved turning the town into a huge market and having dragon boat races down the river. It was quite a good atmosphere and good timing on my behalf!

That afternoon I went to visit the Kuangsi waterfall park. I spent a few hours walking round through the streams, looking at the bears in the sanctuary and avoiding leaches. Many people were swimming in the plunge pools but I didn`t fancy going for a dip in the murky brown water.

The following day was all about the boat races. However, in the morning I strolled around the town centre avoiding the chaos and taking in some of the scenery and architecture. Luang Prabang is located in between the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers. The town is very pretty and is a UNESCO preserved World Heritage site due to its collection of French colonial architecture.

After my stroll I spent a few hours walking along the Nam Khan watching the boat races and avoiding parasols. Everyone was using parasols to shade themselves from the sun and as most people from Laos are about 5ft they would hold their little umbrellas about a foot above them just in line with my head. I was constantly ducking and diving out of the way but still got hit a few times!

After a few hours of festival madness I stopped at a bar to have a beer. I was soon joined by a very gay young man from Laos who started to arrange a party for me an his friends. I even had to talk to one of them on the phone! They were very excited, but I downed my beer, made my excuses and left as quickly as I could!

Just before sunset I walked to Phu Si which are a group of temples that are located on top of a small hill in the middle of the town. It was a sweaty walk to the top but the views were worth it. I sat there watching the sun go down before heading back into town to eat my dinner alongside the mighty Mekong. I tried a yellow Laos curry and buffalo sausage (a Luang Prabang specialty) to start. The curry was very good but the sausage was only OK. It tasted like beef and onion but kept falling to pieces on my fork!

I only spent 2 nights in Luang Prabang but that was enough to see the town and surrounding area. I think had I been with friends I could have easily stayed there a few days longer as it was a very nice place to relax and I could have done a trek or rafting trip. But it wasn`t cheap and I couldn`t really afford to stay much longer.

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