Laos Update!

Day 55     Luang Prabang

Soo, today Heidi and I had booked a day trip not with GAP to meet other people but when we were waiting outside the hotel for our pick up, the other 2 only go and turn up saying they went early in the morning to book onto the tour we were doing.. :( I was a bit annoyed, I'm getting cabin fever after 26 days together I just wanted some time away. It was a really good day anyway. We went elephant trekking for 2-3hours, they went through the jungle and through rivers which was pretty cool - we were so close to going under at some points!  It was really funny but I'm sure there'll be some pictures where I have sheer terror in my eyes! One of the elephants when crossing the river fancied a swim and the two girls riding it went right under with their cameras, phones, passports and everything!! (I only had my camera with me and it was in a waterproof bag). I loved riding the elephants, they're so cute too! We fed them after which was nice and had our lunch in this tree top hut in the jungle looking out over the elephants. We then went to this really lush waterfall and climbed up it for a bit and Heidi went for a quick dip in the water but it was super cold. We had a very scenic drive back. Everyone ate the street food from the night market for dinner, I don't care how nice they say it was it was absolutely filthy. They were cooking in the open air leaving food out in dirty streets and just no, it was gross. So Heidi came with me to eat afterwards. She had an appetizer because she said her food tasted of propane - ew! I had lots of Lao money left that I couldn't change back so I chose a really nice restaurant (plus I the places we get taken every night I wouldn't necessarily choose and now I have the choice). I had the best meal since travelling! It was a 200g filet steak with mashed potato and herb butter and carrots. It was beautiful!! Cooked to perfection, it was really chunky piece of meat and lots of redness still mmmm. Then I had a banana split, it was amazing. The food was haute cuisine, delicately presented like something from The Great British Menu. Also we were waited on hand and foot, free mineral water being topped up sooner than you could finish it, we had free apperetifs and palate cleansers as well as baguette slices with garlic and herb butter (again as much as you could eat). It was the most amazing meal, superb!! Then Jay, Aaron and Con (their tour leader) turned up at the restaurant and all they ordered was a drink each but they got all the bread and apperetifs too! After we went to Utopia which was a really nice bar on the riverside and Apple was there too with some people from one of her previous tour groups so we all chilled there until midnight (there's prohibition here too so that's chucking out time). Ohhh Fay has left the group now. But I see her again in just under a week for the start of the next tour. BYE.x