Temples and elephants

It's been a little while since the last blog update!! This is due in part to laziness and too much time enjoying the beach in Vietnam, and also being witness to someone losing all 500 of their photos when they plugged their camera into our hotel's computer. Needless to say, we were spooked, but have found a (we hope) trusty internet cafe and will risk our memory card in the dodgy computers once more.

We left Vang Vieng and journeyed to Luang Prabang by coach- the switchback roads and ageing suspension were not a brilliant combination but the scenery was magnificent, and Mark managed to stop the person in front of him putting the seat back by wedging two water bottles between that seat and his, thus ensuring himself a slightly more bearable journey. (We should note that no one else was putting their seats back, only the plonker sat in front of us!)

Luang Prabang was stunning- French colonial villas with faded shutters, leafy streets with atmospherically crumbling temples on every corner, etc. We did a lot of meandering around the streets on pushbikes, ogling temples and trying to resist buying beerlao tshirts, and also spent a morning at one of the most well-known of these temples trying to look knowledgeable about the subtle differences between the zillions of buddha sculptures.

Meg decided that having been sooo good about not making souvenir purchases up to that point, the time had come to fully immerse herself in the craft shops of Luang Prabang. After lengthy contemplation, several items were purchased which thankfully didn't take up too much room in the suitcase (she hadn't been to Vietnam and seen the silk lanterns yet...)

After a few days spent relaxing, we decided to spice things up a bit by going on an elephant ride. Miss Kham was a delightful elephant companion, sturdy but light-footed, and always keen to spot a likely bit of greenery somewhere off the path for a bit of a mid-morning snack. When she wasn't moseying off into the bush to find a bit of lunch, she was pushing up through the queue of elephants to walk next to her friend Miss Nam.

Mark had a try being a 'mahout' or elephant trainer, which involves sitting on the elephant's head and steering her (they're all lady elephants- 'less aggressive' apparently) by moving your feet behind her ears. After a few dodgy manoevres, he got the hang of it and managed to stay on the path all the way to the end. Once we were safely back on the ground Meg took a few risks herself by feeding bananas to the voracious Miss Kham.

The next day we took off for Hanoi, to trade our sticky rice and laap for some pho and fresh spring rolls. Unbeknownst to us, we would also trade the elephant for a motorbike!