Goodbye Thailand and hello Laos !

Our last night in Thailand was a fun one , a Lady boy show, boy ! I mean girl, could these boys dance ( and in very high heels )It was totally OTT, like being in Vegas, feathers, sequins, one guy in "hot" pants lost his cargo out the side with a little too much thrusting , which was very funny....  Brian seemed to be enjoying it a little bit too much, which was slightly uncomfortable.... At the end when I asked him ... " well what did you make of all that !!" he replied " the choreography was very good " !!!
Flew into Laos the next day, it is very very beautiful, jagged mountain peaks covered in jungle , wonderfully friendly people. Luang Prabang is an untouched colonial town, and our hotel for the next few days is Villa Santi, the ex home to the royals !!!! and it will have to do .....

I had told them of course it was our wedding anniversary so we were upgraded to the princess suite, with flowers and champagne on ice.. oh and of course our own pool, I tell you this backpacking lark ... pah !!! The town here is beautiful, very small very calm, very old buildings, little night market, Mekong river running through and jungle surrounding it .. I love it here, after a meal and a mooch it was back before the 10pm curfew ( you gotta love communism) and into our pool for a midnight dip.....
It seemed like only five hours ago we had gone to bed !!! Up at 5am to see the monks walk the misty street collecting alms from the local people... one of the most wonderful things I have been lucky enough to see...300 saffron clad , barefooted monks walking  around the town in single file, collecting sticky rice, then giving it to the street children who are following very closely behind them. The whole town turns out every single day to do this. Click on this video below to get some idea of whats its like.... having got up at 5am we then had breakfast and went back to bed ... only to be

woken by the most thunderous rainstorm.... Man alive it can rain... this is the first rain we have seen..... those waterfalls are going to be fun tomorrow.. Ethan would not like it here in Laos ....So far we are both having a wonderful time, It is very easy travelling around here, everything is set up for the backpacker, buses to next place, trips out... almost feel cheated that it is so easy.... Can you imagine if the UK was a little more helpful.... Two weeks in and we have seen and experienced so much , we have had many many laughs , most at Brians expense of course but he is used to that.... Not too homesick ! skype is really really helping , seeing my babies and friends... Had a good old chat to Chloe on skype last night and it made my evening, love to you all, and keep those comments coming on the blog... am I writing too much.. not enough ? too many pictures ? more of us ????? Take care all .. XXXXXXXXXXX