Drove to Luang Prabang

Hello everyone!

I'm back on the air with photos, please scroll down and read the previous two posts, which contain photos from the last two days. Hope you like!

So last night we went out to a restaurant where we sat on cushions. The service was absolutely appalling, it took two hours to get our food! But we passed the time by drinking beer and playing games. Abi and I even went across the road and got some delicious chocolate and banana pancakes while we waited haha. Afterwards we went out for a couple of drinks. 

Today we boarded our bus to Luang Prabang at 8.30 for a seven hour journey. We drove through the mountains which was incredibly beautiful! And today I can attach photos to show you how beautiful it was - hooray! 

After two hours we stopped at a hilltop minimart. The view from the lookout was amazing (my photos look great apart from the stupid black dot!). But the attraction at this place is that for 1000 kip (about 12.5 cents or 7p) you can use the 'toilet with a view'. Each cubicle has an open side that faces out over the valley. No one can see you but you still feel very exposed! Still, was the best view I've ever had while going to the toilet hahaha. 

We stopped a couple of hours later for lunch, and I had a delicious chicken and salad sandwich. Again we had great views. 

After lunch we passed through lots of small mountain top towns. We were involved in a huge traffic jam caused by two trucks carrying dangerously huge and heavy looking loads of wood, that weren't secured very well! A man had to direct traffic for about 10 minutes. A lot of reversing and swerving was involved and we were finally on our way again. We also saw a petrol tanker rolled on its side further down the road!!

We arrived in Luang Prabang about 3.30-4pm. We went for a walk with Quinny to the markets. I only bought one small thing mum, and it was for you! James and Laura have a running joke that I'll buy half the market in each city now. The suitcase is looking quite plump these days haha. Lucky only just over a week to go or it may burst! 

We had dinner in a very narrow, crowded market street. We had a vegetarian buffet, which I was a bit iffy about because all the food just sits there, but I ate everything and my tummy is behaving so far. Hopefully I'll be ok! 

Tom, James, Lou, Em, Rhi, Sarah, Becky, Quinny and I went to an Aussie sports bar owned by a man from Western NSW to watch Liverpool vs Arsenal. I wanted Liverpool to win as a certain person most of you know who I'm not the biggest fan of barracks for Arsenal, and Liverpool scored 4 goals in the opening 19 minutes. Perfect :) I walked home by myself at half time to do the blog. It's really safe here though and I found the hotel easily. 

Enjoy today's photos and those from the past two days :)

Love to all
Claire and Laura
Xoxox