Luang Prabang, Jewel of Asia

Our journey from Vang Vien to Luang Probang was a six hour ride in a cramped minibus with little leg room . It would have been a horrible journey if not for the amazing scenery of Loa mountains dotted with traditional villages.

The whole town of Luang Probang has been listed as a UNESCO world heritage site for its picturesque architecture surrounded by rolling mountains. Upon arrival we took a short tuk-tuk ride to our guesthouse before heading out to a restaurant overlooking the Mekong river with some lovely Thai food. Within an hour or two we knew we wanted to extend our stay in Luang Prabang, so we booked an extra night at our hotel.

That evening we explored the night market for a while and had a tipple in a nearby wine bar and then headed back to the hotel at the 11.30 bar curfew.

The next day we headed into the countryside for a tour of a small village and to spend some time with some elephants! We rode an elephant through the jungle, with him rummaging through the overgrowth for a snack along the way, and then went for a swim in the river while he bathed.

On our final day in Luang Prabang we chartered a tuk-tuk for the day to take us to Quang Si National Park. There's a bear sanctuary in the woods for bears that have been rescued from the black market for wild animals. We've never seen so many bears before! They had plenty of room to roam and had a stimulating environment, so it was a really good cause.

We trekked through the rest of the National Park where there were stunnning waterfalls and natural rock pools with bright blue water where we went for a swim. We stayed there for a few hours and then went for a Chang beer before reconvening with our tuk-tuk driver and heading back to town.

That night, facing another night of an 11.30 bar curfew, we were left with one other option - bowling. It's the only place in Luang Probang where the music and beer keeps flowing until 1am, so we hopped into a tuk-tuk and went for a bare-foot game of bowling or three.

The following day we started our long journey back to Thailand, and in doing so we found the best way to travel in Asia - on a slow boat down the Mekong river. The boat was only half full, so there was plenty of room to sleep, and the views were amazing. After 8 hours we had an overnight stop in a little town called Pak Beng before doing the second 10 hour leg of the journey the following morning, all loking forward to being back on Thai soil again!