Luang Prabang, Laos

Laos: completely landlocked country surrounded by every other country in the regions. There are borders to Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, even China. Its the size of Great Britain with a tenth of the population: none of them Polish I think. However, ethnographers have calculated a minimum of 94 ethnic groups within its borders so there must be a lot of diversity. The culture has a philosophy of not getting worked up about the present: karma will sort everything out for the future. Religious prozelytising is illegal, so no Jehovas Witnesses. Buddhism is everywhere, the people are peaceful and softly spoken, and everything is dirt cheap. I'm already warming to this place.

We flew into Luang Prabang; what used to be the capital of the country before it moved south to Vientiane. It is a peninsular-shaped town situated on the confluence of two rivers: the Mekong (12th largest river in the world) and the Khan. As a World Heritage site it has been developed to a thriving tourist centre (well, at least relative to ten years back). It has a charm difficult to describe. For Linda and I, the French colonial architecture and open street bars and restaurants reminds us of Key West in Florida with a serious Oriental twist. It has nothing like the hysteria of Bangkok, or even the street chaos of last year's Hanoi. Its lively enough in the evening with a enormous street market taking up the mile between our hotel and the bars (I've already bought a pair of warm fluffy slippers for the English sub zero winter). Our first night saw us in the outside bar of L'Elephant restaurant with BeerLao and skewers of meat and vegetables. As the sun dimmed we could hear the chanting of the monks at prayer at the wat just opposite where we were sat. Walking over to peek in the door at the top of the steps, I could see the large golden Buddha looming over the kneeling preists in the flickering lamp light. It truly brought a tingle to the spine.

The next day was an early start (*groan*). A bus took us 15 klicks outside the town where we were met by a small herd of elephants at a preservation camp. Then, a mercifully quick long-tailed boat ride up the Khan (those wooden benches are murder on my bony ancient bum!) surrendered us to what was briefly described as a "trek" by the town travel agent. Ha! An hour and a bit saw us climbing over giant tree roots and crossing swamps as we were led up the trail next to a system of streams and waterfalls to the top of a mountain (OK, hill). The Superfit One was as happy as larry while Linda and I had to stop to wipe the sweat from our eyes and contemplate knee surgery when (IF) we ever saw civilisation again. It was all worth it. At the top we were met by our personal elephants (whose names I can't remember but we have full biographies if you are interested) who carried us back to the river and their Elephant Camp. A great, if continually swaying, view of the mountain Laotian jungle on the way down followed by a cold beer at the Camp restaurant.

After a much needed shower and a cerimonial burning-of-the-clothes it was time for traditional Laos food. Three pints of BeerLoa, a Lao pork curry and some river weed (think Japanese seaweed but flat tablets of it baked in garlic -- much better than it sounds) came to around six quid. I definitely am getting to love this place!