Mekong river weed with chilli paste....

I haven't tried it yet, because I just spotted it on a menu today and it seemed very expensive for what it was - weed from the river, bashed with a stick. I'd have imagined you'd be pushed to give it away....

The food is generally pricey here in Luang Prabang. We had a couple of shitty bus rides to get here, but looks like most people flew straight in from their front doors. The town is pretty in a very twee kind of way. Loads of fake French colonial woodwork and stuff. This is tourist central - straight off the 'Wonders of South east Asia all inclusive three-week trip'. Guest houses quote in dollars (lots of them) and crappy lounge-jazz oozes out of every restaurant speaker.

Despite that, we managed to score a cheap room right on the edge of the town centre. It took a bit of searching out, but it's a nice place. There's a wee balcony and you can see the river from it. This morning I climbed a hill in the town centre with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. It was all a bit misty by the time I got there, but good to see nonetheless.

We've significantly changed our plans and the overland trip to Hong Kong ends here. We're going to double back and spend a few more weeks in Thailand and then take a cheap flight to Hong Kong from there in a month's time. Laos just isn' t doing it for us.  We've met a load of people who think it's great - mostly pissed up kids -  but we're struggling to see the point.   It's also getting bloody freezing at night and looks like being even more so in China. (0 degrees Celcius at night in Kunming!). That's serious consideration for our decrepit old bones. We left Almaty to escape the winter and for a few days now we've been wondering about the wisdom of heading further and further north on shoogly buses for the next month when we could be chilling out in tripical climes, swimming every day and enjoying top-notch food with Chang beer. Call us shallow.... we are.

After mentioning Chang beer, I have to say that beer Lao is tops. It really is good. And nae hangover... There's a reason for coming to Laos.