Having had such a horrendous journey from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang we decided to go the 'treat yo'self' route and cancel the bus we had booked to get back to Vientiane and instead booked the Lao Skyways flight. We had initially booked a morning flight however we were moved the previous night onto an early afternoon flight instead. So we enjoyed a long lie, had a leisurely breakfast, checked out the hotel and took a tuk tuk to the airport.

Arriving at the airport was where the fun began. The group in front of us consisted of no less than 10 French people, the majority of who had overpacked meaning the entire group had to open their suitcases and shuffle things around. Did they allow people to go ahead as they did this? Did. They. H*ck! Half an hour later and it was over, we could finally get checked in. We then had the delight of being once again caught behind them at the immigration desk - even domestic flights have to go through immigration here, we assume it's to check visa status.

Once we got through security we were desperate for a coffee and a seat, although Craig definitely had his eye on the Glenfiddich in duty free (not at £76 for a 12 year old)!!

Thankfully the flight itself was completely uneventful, it was so short the seatbelt sign was off for all of 10 minutes. However the note on the underside of the tray-tables did make us chuckle (as pictured above), was something lost in translation and it was meant to say the usual 'life-jacket under your seat' or if the plane were to crash would we all be fiddling about pulling our seats apart? We are delighted to report, we did not find out.

Coronavirus check point cleared, our bags were some of the first off, no line for a taxi and we were on our way to Azalea Parkview Hotel.

A few months ago when we were booking this hotel we were fresh off our 14.5 hour bus journey from Phuket to Bangkok. Having had a less than enjoyable experience and thinking we would be doing something similar we decided to book ourselves 2 nights somewhere fairly nice to make up for it. However, now having cancelled our bus, we just looked like boujee backpackers.

We enjoyed making the most of having a lazy evening and popped out for a delicious dinner at Lao Luna de Ora. A pizza for Craig and a salad for Katy - we meant to take a picture, however we were ravenous and forgot.

Our intention was to have an early night however we had shared an affogato after dinner. Katy was up until 01:00, Craig until 03:00. This meant we then slept straight through breakfast the next morning and didn't venture out our room until 11:30 when we went to Joma for some breakfast - can we still call it breakfast at this point? We're not sure!

After breakfast we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed laying by the pool for the afternoon. Excellent way to spend our final day in Laos we would say!

Having had our fill of the pool we popped back to the room to get our bags packed up for moving on tomorrow, got reception to book us a taxi to get to the airport for 06:30 the next morning and got ready to go out for some dinner.

Being the creatures of habit that we are we headed back to Khop Chai Deu where we had visited when we had been in Vientiane at the beginning of our time in Laos. The food was just as good, as were the gin fizz cocktails!

We went for a post-dinner walk back to the Patuxay, this time to see it all lit up which we both agreed was prettier at night.

We were delighted to arrive at our accommodation, Moon's House Hotel and check in at 14:00. After having a quick lunch, we went for a walk along the main street however it didn't last long as the stalls were being moved into place for the nightly night market. For dinner, we had to walk the length of the market to finally get to Yongkhoune Restaurant where Craig had a Lao take on the Khao Soi he had loved in Thailand (not as good) and Katy had a Luang Prabang sausage. Sadly, something was lost in translation and a single sausage is all she had!

To make up for Katy's disappointment, we shared a crepe from one of the vendors at the market, not the Nutella cheese one, for some reason we didn't fancy it...

The next morning we set out to explore the town further and, after breakfast, we entered the palace. Built in 1904 by the French to house the Laos Royal family, it was in use until the end of the revolution in 1975 when the king was forced to abdicate. Ultimately, the king and queen would be forced to a 're-education centre' where they were put to hard labour with malaria being the likely cause of their deaths. The palace itself has been converted into a museum, depicting the livelihood the monarchy led up until their abdication. There was some interesting artefacts including gifts from other communist and neighbouring countries. We would love to show you some of the exhibits but camera's were banned from the palace. The next stop was to the garage where the cars used by the royal family are still kept including, a very impressive Lincoln Continental. From here we explored the palace grounds and the onsite temple to Buddha.

​After spending an hour and a half in the palace, we climbed Mount Phousi a 100m hill, with over 300 stairs, in the centre of town. The hill is dotted with temples and stupas and is considered very sacred to the Laos people. The views from the top were stunning, allowing us to survey the town and the valley it was nestled in along with the confluence of the mighty Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. 

​We decided to take the north path down (and were really glad we hadn't come up this much steeper side), having come up the south side, and walked along the Nam Khan where we came across the bamboo bridge. Every year it is washed away in the wet season by the river and every year they rebuild it and charge 2,000Kip (20p) per person to cross it to help fund next years bridge.

After lunch we returned to the hotel to spend the afternoon in the room relaxing. Dinner that evening was also a quiet affair and an early night followed.

The tuk tuk picked us up at 09:45 the next morning and took us to the jetty for our half day on the Mekong. The first stop was to a village where the locals made Laos whisky. The word whisky might be a bit strong. Think moonshine and you are probably closer. The product is distilled locally and then sold, mostly to tourists. When we arrived we sampled a Laos Rice Wine which was very sweet, purple in colour, with a grape flavour, and 2 clear whisky's, 1 flavoured with banana and the other a straight up whisky. The spirit is made from sticky rice and tasted like the paint stripper it looked like, with the banana faring little better. The showpiece items were the whisky infused with a snake and another infused with a scorpion. The village also had a market that we had half an hour to explore, we didn't buy anything but it wasn't as poverty stricken as other villages we have visited in SE Asia. We were disappointed not to see the whisky production process but perhaps that was for the best having drank some!

Once we were on our way upstream again we came to the main attraction, the Pak Ou Caves, two caves that have been converted to Buddhist spaces by monks and helped by the sheer number of Buddha statues! We decided to walk to the further away of the two caves first (that contains over 1,000 Buddha images) and so climbed over 200 stairs to the other side of the mountain from the river and, with iPhone lights shinning, entered the dark, three chambered cave. It was impressive to see how many Buddha's they could squeeze into one area! The remains of old statues that have now been swept to the side watch on, their ghosts dancing as the lights move across them as people move through the cave. The candlelight gives the statues an eerie character before tourists cameras suddenly light up the entire cavern, somewhat wasting the illusion.

​After finding our way back to the entrance we returned to the first cave, a single chamber cave that has over 2,000 images of Buddha. This was the least impressive of the two mostly as it was less of a cave and more an indentation in the limestone and, it was tremendously busy. It also didn't have the same feeling of spirituality that the other cave had.

After returning to the boat we were served a Lao feast on our way back to Luang Prabang! The menu started with an amuse bouche of Mekong river weed cooked in sesame seeds topped with Luang Prabang sausage and tomato chutney. The next course was a bowl of chicken soup that was simple yet tasty. For our starter we had a pork salad that came with sticky purple rice which was good although, Katy wasn't overly enamoured with it. Our main was fish steamed in banana leaves and served with vegetables and sticky rice, as you can imagine, we were stuffed! That doesn't mean we didn't eat the fresh fruit that was served for dessert however...!

​After a relaxing afternoon back at the hotel we headed out for dinner at the marketplace as we didn't need lots of food. After ordering some food at Tonka Kitchen we took a seat under the fairly lights of the park and enjoyed the traditional Laos food we had ordered. 

​So, it turns out we were being idiots. The hotel we were staying at does a free breakfast. Morning 3 was when we worked that out! After a tasty FREE breakfast we took our booked minivan (with 8 others) to the Kuang Si waterfall. We started by climbing all the way to the top, passing smaller falls and beautiful blue lagoons, and then the near vertical (in sandals and flip flops) climb to the top of the big waterfall. The view was sadly hampered by the haze that has seemed to follow us everywhere in SE Asia but we were among only a handful at the top which was a pleasant experience, in the cool breeze, under the shade of the jungle.

With plenty of time we took our time on the descent, to begin with that was mostly because it was slippy and then to see what we had rushed past earlier. The area wasn't overly crowded which was nice as well although that was a different story at a pool where swimming was allowed!

​The next stop was the bear sanctuary which houses a combination of Sun and Moon bears. These bears are trapped by poachers and then sold to Chinese medicine men who extract their bile from the gallbladder via a needle to use in Chinese medicine. The charity, Free The Bears, rescues them and keeps them in a sanctuary as they are weak when they are found but they are also unable to be wild anymore. It was very sad to see these animals living in a sanctuary, and we appreciate their alternative was far worse but surely it would be better if they had been left to roam free.

​With some time left we went for a coffee outside of the park, to a restaurant/cafe beside the bus park. We both ordered the Laos coffee and both tasted it at the same time which resulted in us pulling a similar face at the same time! Laos coffee is black coffee with condensed milk and sugar! With one of us having a grandmother who put sugar on strawberries and the other who had two grandmothers renowned for their home baking, meaning we both have a major sweet tooth, it was still far too sickly sweet for both of us! It had a very odd thick texture as well, which didn't help the overall experience. 

When we returned to Luang Prabang we headed out for a sandwich from Luang Prabang bakery (after washing our now very dusty legs) and then had a relaxing afternoon. For dinner we returned to the market and decided to treat ourselves to coconut pancakes for dessert. They were a bit doughy in truth and didn't have a strong coconut taste but certainly satisfied an itch for a little bit of sugar.

Tomorrow we head back to Vientiane!

When we finally arrived safely we strapped our bags back on to our backs and headed for PM Hotel, thrilled to find our room was ready, so we could dump our bags and head for lunch. Well, sort of, we were given the key and after taking the elevator to the 4th floor we found housekeeping were still getting it ready, so we lingered by the door for 10 minutes, awkwardly.

​Once we were in, bags dumped and freshened up, we headed across the road to the Happy Mango where we had a delicious Thai lunch. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed a quiet afternoon, doing a whole lot of nothing. We didn't venture very far for dinner either, making it two doors up from the hotel to Gary's Irish Bar. We enjoyed some homely food, Craig even got to enjoy a Guinness, and we crashed in to bed early, ready for an early morning so we could get out hiking.

Craig woke up loaded with the cold and couldn't really face the prospect of heading out hiking so we ignored the 06:30 alarm. Katy didn't need to be told twice to go back to sleep! We eventually got up and headed for breakfast closer to 09:00 by which point it was far too hot to hike so we decided to enjoy another chilled day, we've had a bit of travel fatigue of late so this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Deciding we really couldn't sit in the hotel room all day we took ourselves to Naked Espresso for a coffee and then on to Luang Prabang Bakery for a delicious sandwich for lunch (we can't tell you how thrilled we were to find somewhere we could have a nice, fresh sandwich!). We really didn't do too much more with our day unless you want to count watching Harry Potter - again!!!

Another 06:30 alarm the next day, and this time we couldn't just switch it off and roll back over as we had booked to go kayaking on the Nam Song river. We were picked up and sat in the back of a songthaew beside the kayaks and were taken 10km up the river where we were deposited with our guide Tun to begin our journey back to town. 

We enjoyed taking in the scenery as we meandered down the river, passing through some small rapids. We did occasionally wind up moored on a rock in some places as it is currently dry season and there wasn't a lot of water in the river. We passed by the many bars along the banks of the Nam Song, a reminder that until 2011 Vang Vieng was very much a party town, where backpackers could get their fill of weed or opium, go tubing down the Nam Song river where they could drink to their hearts content and ride on shoddy tyre swings out over the river. With at least 27 tourist deaths occurring in 2011 (a combination of drowning and people cracking their skulls on the rocks) the government stepped in and...enforced the laws that already existed. Drugs are no longer readily available, tubing is still allowed however, only 3 of the 9 remaining bars are allowed to be open on any given day and the shoddy tyre swings have all disappeared. Drifting along the river, under the blue sky, it was hard to believe that it was once a drug-filled hotspot, wild enough to kill!

After kayaking we enjoyed another chilled out afternoon (are you seeing the theme here!?), we enjoyed taking in the view from our room as, just like in Bagan, hot air ballooning is a big thing in Vang Vieng.

​Being Valentine's Day we decided to treat ourselves and headed to Il Tavolo for dinner. With a proper pizza oven, you just couldn't beat it! The budget even stretched to a glass of wine for Katy and for us both to have a limoncello (chilled in the freezer of course) for dessert - delicious!

The next morning we had yet another 06:30 alarm set in hopes of this time getting out for the hike we had had planned for our first day however the kayaking had buggered (yes that is the professional term, we're pharmacists don't fight us on this) Katy's shoulder which she had previously damaged when someone drove into the back of Craig's car (in 2016). So having not slept overly well, we again switched the alarm off and turned back over. Our day followed much the same as our first day. We headed to Naked Espresso for a coffee again, this time we took the guidebook to do a bit of research for Luang Prabang, our next destination. Then lunch back at the Luang Prabang bakery. We spent the afternoon watching the rest of Harry Potter, getting ourselves packed then headed back to Gary's Irish Pub. We were enjoying a few drinks when we were told to pick a horse name out of a hat as they were about to show an old horse race on the TV and if our horse won we would get some free shots. Lo and behold, despite being in last the majority of the way, we won!

After our free breakfast the next morning, we headed out to do some sightseeing and how amazed we were to see pavements absolutely everywhere! Not far from the hostel is Patuxay Monument, (Patuxay translates to Victory Gate) a concrete structure, based on the Arc de Triomphe. It stands within a state park and was built in the 1960's to commemorate those who had given their lives during WWII and the 1949 war for independence from France. The park is also beautiful and very peaceful considering we were city centre in SE Asia, not an experience we have come across very often!

We walked on to Pha That Luang which is considered Laos' most sacred temple and it is believed to enshrine Buddha's breastbone (yeah, we find it a bit odd as well that Buddha has seemingly been cut up worse than a cadaver for a 1st year anatomy class and then spread across India and SE Asia!) The site has had a monument on it since the 3rd century BC although in different iterations over the centuries due to wars. The current version was built in 1566 and restored in the 1930's by the French after Siamese forces sacked it in the 19th century. The statue in front of the temple is of King Setthathirath, King of Lan Xang kingdom who founded the 1566 temple and is considered one of the greatest leaders in Laos history.

After walking around this spiritual site, that also includes a Buddhist convention hall, we decided not to go inside the temple as there was a 10,000Kip (£0.91) foreigner fee which, has got a bit tiring as the entry for locals was 3,000Kip. Could you imagine the outrage at home if Wallace Monument had a £35 entry fee for foreigners but Scottish people only paid £10.50 (don't @ us, we checked it)! 

As we were walking back downtown, Katy's eye was caught by a white stupa, which turned out to be the Unknown Soldier Monument which was opened in January 2009. The base depicted scenes from battle but no entry barriers kept us on the pavement.

The last bit of sightseeing for the day was That Dam Stupa, and yes, we only went for the name!! Feels like it should have a hashtag before it doesn't it!? It translates as 'Black Stupa' but we much prefer the untranslated version. The stupa was built in the 16th century and is believed to be home to a 7-headed water serpent (Naga) that tried to protect the city during an invasion by the Siamese. It is still widely regarded as the city's guardian spirit although the stupa takes on more of a Bagan feel to it today as the gold was taken by the Siamese during the 19th century and nature has started to reclaim it.

The afternoon was spent relaxing in the room as the temperature rose. For dinner we headed to Khop Kai Deu, a Laos restaurant that served beautiful food and we both left absolutely stuffed!

​We started Tuesday's sightseeing to see the Chao Anouvong Statue, a king during the early 19th century who had been a great builder during his reign and had also united 2 of the 3 Lao kingdoms.

We left the statue and river behind and walked to the City Pillar Shrine, opened in 2012 after artefacts from the original city pillar were discovered here dating back to the 4th and 5th century. Katy was wearing shorts so wasn't allowed in but Craig climbed the stairs and saw inside where some of the artefacts are now housed, surrounding the new shrine from behind glass cases.

On we walked to Wat Si Muang, a Buddhist temple, that was very ornately decorated however we didn't go in because of Katy's shorts!

The next stop, and a highly recommended stop on any visit to Vientiane, was to the Cooperative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) centre. It was opened in 1996 to deal with the growing cases of people surviving interactions with unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Laos due to the bombs that were dropped here during the secret war run by America from 1964-1973. The mission for the Americans was to disrupt the so called Ho Chi Minh supply chain from Hanoi to the south during the Vietnam war. This war resulted in Laos becoming the the most bombed country per capita in the world (a record that stands to this day), and caused the injury or death of over 50,000 Laotian people and, of those, nearly 30,000 (half of which are children) of them have occurred since the bombs stopped falling as the Americans used cluster bombs. Cluster bombs are dropped as large bombs from planes but the casings open on descent to reveal roughly 200 smaller bombs, (about the size of an orange) known as 'bombies', that cause widespread devastation as they spread out and detonate on impact. During the 9 year period, 270 million sub-munitions from cluster bombs (around 2 million tonnes) were dropped on Laos, and an estimated 10-30% never exploded resulting in 25% of Laos villages (and 35% of the country) to be polluted with UXOs. The problem with UXOs is they won't detonate when they are stood on, like a landmine, if they are buried under top soil, but can explode when struck by a farmer turning their rice field or, when they are warmed from a fire that has been lit to cook a family dinner or, when children find a metal ball they can throw to each other and one accidentally drops it. The real sadness is the scrap metal trade is very valuable to the majority of Laotians who live in rural locations as most live in poverty and work the land for a living. They use what ever metal they find to either sell as scrap or to craft items for personal use, sadly this carries the increased risk of encountering UXOs. One man lost his leg to an UXO and, after recovering, made himself a leg from bamboo, to bind the rudimentary prosthetic leg, he used metal found from a UXO, the same type of bombie that had taken his leg. The COPE centre has been established to help those affected, by providing a training base for the care givers and a rehabilitation centre to help those in need of prosthetics and orthotics. It also promotes the work of the 3,000 international people who are currently clearing UXO's in Laos, and the expansion of COPE's work as they now have the funding to travel to rural communities and provide those in need with the limbs, support and healthcare they require. This is hugely beneficial to these poor communities and the families of those affected as healthcare costs can be crippling. The COPE centre does a fantastic job of providing all of their services for free to those who need it but they do rely on funding from visitors and other nations to support this. In 2016, Barack Obama was the first American president to visit Laos in 2016 and promised to double the funding, via USAID, to $90million over 3 years to help atone for the secret war that has so ravaged this country. To put this in context however, America spent $13.3million per day, for 9 years, bombing Laos.

Outside the museum there is a statue of a mother and child made from the scrap metal from bombs discovered in Laos, somewhat normalising the frequency of bombs found here.

Once we had explored the museum and exhibits we went for a coffee to Cafe Nomad, a lovely spot that also had a dual purpose, it let us print our bus tickets for our travels around Laos! The afternoon was spent relaxing before heading back out for dinner at 17:00 to Bor Pen Nyang Bar & Restaurant, 4 stories up where we watched the sun set over Thailand and enjoyed a peaceful meal.

After dinner we fancied something sweet as we hadn't eaten any lunch so went to Sweet Moo, an ice cream shop, where we shared a peanut butter ice cream sundae.

Once we got back to the room we packed up and got ready to head north, to Vang Vieng.