Sam N Em Do The World 30th January - Luang Prabang

We are now in Luang Prabang, Laos. It took us two days on a slow boat along the Maekong River to get here. I would thoroughly recommend such a trip - the scenery was of National Geographic standard and I had to keep pinching myself to make sure it wasn't a dream after all. Laos is everything that I suspect Thailand was before tourism took over.

It’s the size of Vietnam, but has only a fraction of the population. It consists of largely undeveloped forests, hills and plains but there are also post-French-colonial towns around like Luang Prabang and the capital Vientiane. The mix of Indo-Chine and European faded architecture here is sublime.

We’re not visiting any hilltribes, as we agreed not to in Thailand. The hilltribes have a saying: "You can have the valleys, but let us have the hills". This is a good philosophy, I feel. If tourists want to visit the hilltribe educational centres and help that way, I think that's great. We are off to Vang Vieng tomorrow or the next day to look at some caves along the Maekong. Then to the capital before heading south to places such as Champasak and Savannaket, which have lots of ruins comparable to Angkhor Wat, Cambodia (I'll believe it when I see them). We did have a nightmare trying to find accommodation in Luang Prabang when we arrived.

There were 50 plus people on board our boat and lots of speedboats overtook us on the way. Yes, word has got out and the tourists are flocking to Laos. I felt like Annika Rice in Treasure Hunt, trying to find somewhere to stay - all the guest houses were full, so we checked into a a night hotel (New Luang Prabang Hotel - very nice too).

Good to grab a couple of night's comfortable sleep. Tonight we are staying at Pousie Guest House, which is , and more than adequate for our needs - clean, cosy and character-filled, with friendly owners and fab food too.

It’s strange what you see when you travel ... a dead body floated past us downstream on the river and yesterday we saw samples from the moon's surface in the Royal Palace Museum, with an accompanying plastic Apollo 11, Laos national flag and plaque from Richard Nixon (saying that his boys had planted the flag on the moon).

Ta ta for Laos...I mean...now

Sam and Emily xxx