The first day in Luang Prabang we were surprised by the most beautiful weather and we settled into the city by wandering around with overjoyed looks on our faces- who knew how easy it'd be to forget what the sun felt like on our skin! 
We soon met up with Austria and Jen. We grabbed a bite to eat from a woman we soon dubbed as the happiest woman in the world due to her ever bright countenance and hired bikes. I haggled because Frenchy wasn't there to do it for us and off we went to explore our surroundings. The city itself is really pretty and has a number of little boutiques selling nice dresses, shops selling hand made jewellery and more temples than you can shake a stick at! To go with the massive amount of temples there were a heck of a lot of monks, all ages, sizes, and of different levels of solemnity!   That night after an all you can fit on a plate meal at the night market, we went to a lovely bar called Laos Laos garden for drinks and girl time (plus Austria, who may have had a rude awakening into the ways of women!) 
While we sat there I heard the call, "what the fuck?!" we all turned around to see nome other but out lovely Frenchy!  We hung out for the night and arrange to meet him the next day for the tour we'd booked earlier that day.

The day trip a was excellent, despite being a bit of a rip off, to think we paid $32 for 2 nights and 3 days trip to Halong bay, and we were paying $45 for a day--oh well. The trip was great and it was nice to not have to worry about anything at all. 
In the morning we went to ride on elephants, which was lovely if a little smelly! The hide of an elephant is surprisingly tough and the hairs are very coarse, not the most comfortable animal to ride but a great experience. 
In the afternoon we went to the waterfalls. With the turquoise water and rope swing I felt like I was in paradise. 
I managed a spectacular crash into a tree because I was too scared to let go of the rope! Very graceful and super cool I'm sure! After that embarrassment I managed a couple of great swings into the water to redeem myself, but was massively outshone in both grace and beauty by Austria and Frenchy, who like most boys are just able to do stuff like that easily!
Early evening took us to a little village where child labour is in full swing. We were sold bracelets by lovely little kids who chimed 5000,5000,5000,5000 until you bought something! At one point I had to use my teacher voice on them cause we were all getting sick of the 5000 chorus! 
The little boys were playing an awesome game of beat the crap out of each other with clods of mud. Like snowball fights but way more vicious. Of course I joined in for a few minutes hitting various members of our group with mud much to the shock of the lads! Then I offered to buy one of the babies for 5000 from his mum; she found his hilarious and told her neighbour across the way who also though this was hilarious, offering me a toothless laugh that left me smiling for the rest of the day!
That night was Lisa's last and so we went for goodbye drinks at Laos Laos. After the bar closed we hit the road and went to the only club in town to dance our hearts out to an obscure mix of western and Thai music. I loved that club, and had no idea how much I missed dancing until that night.
After the club lots of people came back to our hostel where they sat outside until the wee hours of the morning!

The next day was a day of mourning as Lisa left and the group was smaller yet again. Argh- that girl really does have a special place in my heart, she's one of those people who you know you're supposed to meet and be friends for life! 
That night we had an awesome fondue dinner to say proper goodbyes to the rest of the gang as we were splitting up he following day.

As we travelled up north to Nong Khiao for a few days on a local bus with the wind blowing in my hair and a steel pole separating my spine from the right side of my back, I realised how exceptionally lucky I am to be here.
Strangely I miss work, and less strangely I miss my family and my wifey and my heather, but I am so very happy I am here- gaining new experience, getting to know myself a bit more, and changing, in ways I didn't think I would. And mostly meeting some excellent people that I otherwise wouldn't have met.

Anyway, I stayed in a lovely little bungalow on the riverside in Nong K. Very peaceful, it was like going on a holiday within my travels! Went to some caves but forgot my headtorch like a fool, banged my shoulder and it hurt lots so we sacked the cave exploration in the intrerest of personal safety and walked home! On the way we waded through a river which was like marshland of poop under my feet- not the best idea, but a lovely day! 
I liked that village a lot and the people just seemed lovely. I don't know why, but I am so incredibly broody here! I literally have to put my hands in my pockets so that I don't pick up every child from their mother! Just for a hug- don't worry I haven't moved onto kidnap yet!