What would you choose?

In Luang Prabang, apart from visiting the not-so exceptional, exceptional waterfall (we think we were spoilt in Vietnam) the only thing to do there is to plan your escape....(to Chiang Mai)

a) take the slow boat which takes 2/3 days and involves sitting on wooden benches the whole time
b) take the speed boat which involves sitting crouched in the same position for six hours with a crash helmet on and your bag between your knees - i.e. risking death
c) fly with Laos Airlines - i.e. risking death
d) take the bus for a whole day and night and another day

Since we didn't have too much time available, none of these options were too appealing, so change of plans. We can get the bus to Bangkok in one day and one night, then we can head to Kanchanaburi from there. If time and cheap internet flights allow we can fly to Chiang Mai later.

So once this dilemma was sorted me and Amy were going to climb the big hill in Luang Prabang called Phousy Mountain, really we were - but it started to rain and so instead we found the cinema where you hire your film and room and get a million cushions to lay on and veg out. We watched Walk the Line (Madtin - you might even enjoy that one :) and Jarhead (James Maggot - excellent review from you, just like you said it would be ;)

We visited the night market and purchased some paper lanterns which every traveller needs! Honestly! We met Alex who we first met in Halong Bay, he is from Scotland, so we hung around with him for a while too.

And then here begins the mammoth journey from Luang Prabang - Vientiane and Vientiane to Bangkok. The bus to Vientiane had some colourful characters on it....one guy sat in front of me kept leaning over the sleeping woman next to him to throw up out of the window - eventually she caught on and swapped seats with him. By the end of the journey he was coughing up blood, nice! Me and Ayms were lucky enough to have most of the back seat to ourselves apart from the man carrying the AK47 under his jacket - there for our own protection don't you know, from bandits who attack tourist buses in the mountains. Every now and again people would get on the bus and come and share the back seat with us. At one point a family of four; mother, baby, toddler and child squeezed onto the one and a half seats left (the gun is taking up half a seat), the toddler looked absolutely petrified at the sight of Amy but that didn't stop her from gripping into her arm for the duration of the journey!