On our first day in Luang Prabang, after breakfast and a walk around, we booked a afternoon trip to visit a local waterfall. It was quite beautiful and we eventually found our way to the main part after stopping to swim in the green blue milky pools beneath the multitude of cascades that presented themselves as we followed the path. It wasn’t until we were leaving that we spotted a freshwater crab in one of the pools, and realised that the nipping was not from those lovely foot nibbling fish you see everywhere… That evening we found ourselves back at another food market, this time it was buffet style — 10,000 kip to fill a plate, and BBQ chicken, fish, sausage and ribs on sticks extra (25,000 kip). Laura picked out a plate full whilst I found a table and waited for the chicken and fish. Washed down with a tasty Beer Lau it was a very tasty and cheap meal! I didn’t spot many locals eating there, so I guess it’s something that mostly relies on tourists, which explains he odd stall with various pastas.. It seems we are following the same route as many other people and we keep bumping into people we has met I various stages before, and so we have got friendly with various groups or couples and singles. We met a group of people at the Hive Bar that evening with the hope of organising a fishing trip the next morning, it turned out the Loas guy taking us on the boat trip drinks at the bar, and collected a deposit from all 11 of us before we headed off to another bar… We met three people with an interesting story that night. Marten, Rianna and Marten, who cycled from Slovakia and are headed for Australia. We finished at the Utopia bar where I failed miserably at the open air volleyball court they have. On my first serve I hit the ball over the wall and has to pay the 10,000 kip fine to the next-door neighbour to get the ball back. Wy ineptitude was redeemed slightly I the next session, but I realised that the Bee Lau was impairing my game, and so bowed out. After bumping into yet more familiar faces, and as the towns curfew (11:30) was imposed, we headed to bed ready for the mornings boat trip! Guaranteed to catch giant catfish! Or so I had convinced myself. The fishing trip turned into a visit to a local cave which housed a handful of Buddha statues, followed by a visit to a waterfall and swimming. It was a hot day, and the cave was quite muggy.The little monk guide (about 7 or 8) was very nice and despite it being very dark, was able to leap about the place from section to section with no fear for his own safety. The waterfall was lovely and we spent a bit of time waiting for a driver to be roused to rise us from the fishing village up to the waterfall. We were the only group there and It appeared that it was a less visited site. We then ended up back in the little village, and some of he group somehow organised food with the locals,and we sat around smiling at each other as the language barrier was quite thick. Then the mythical fishing part came to pass, the boat man had only three rods, and we had to dig the bait ourselves from the mu on the riverbank. We couldn’t fish from the boat at it was was tok windy, and the falangs it seems, cause the boat to rock more. Goethe same reason, we couldn’t move to the better fishing spot down the river. At this point, it started to rain, so locals watched h hardcore three or four of us collect bait, cast off and stand around I the rain like silly falangs. Whilst they too shelter under the trees until it stopped raining. They soon got back into the fishing queue that they operate — only one fisherman goes out with his net at a time, I assume to give them a better chance at catching. They had fun ‘scaring falangs’ by making some of the massive, bream-like fish (but spikier) jump in the water. They had them tied up with a piece of string attached to a rope, strung between two bamboo canes. They cut the top (dorsal?) fin between the second and third spokes, and tie the string to the remaining front part. This holds them in the water, keeping them fresh before they are sold. One fisherman came back with a 7kg monster, which will apparently feed 18 people and will fetch 350,000 kip (€35) at the market. Apparently each fisherman catches two or three of there per fishing day. By this stage, I was covered in mid, had ripped some skin from my big toe (from an unseen object in the mid), people were bored and the Norwegians had opened the rice wine and were singing every winning Eurovision song from the last 20 years. It was time to head home, fish less but somewhat contented and ready for dinner. That evening we booked our bus tickets for Van Vieng, leaving the next morning and went for dinner at the food market buffet place. Yesterday, we started our ‘6 hour but really its a 9 hour’ bus journey at 0830 after a lovely breakfast at a place we only found the evening before. I could happily have stayed longer in Luang Prabang, it had lots of character and still feels a bit like the French colony it started out as. I wish I had spent more time just wandering around taking photos as there is lots of charm and little nooks to explore. However, time marches on and we are both longing for the beach. The journey to Van Vieng was as long a it was beautiful. The trip along the 280kms or so of winding, but well maintained, roads took a full 9 hours. The views of the giant limestone Khasts were spectacular.