The best destination in the world

Our expectation of Luang Prabang was high. After all we had read in our Wanderlust magazine that it had been voted 'best destintation in the world' for two years running. Even a bloke we had met in Thailand assured us we would wake up after just one night with not a care in the world - it was that laid back and beautiful.

But first we had to get there and found ourselves in a country in the middle of a political coup. The state of things in Bangkok was getting worse and worse with reports of 10 people having been killed in the demonstrations. The protestors still remained at the airport and all flights to and from the capital had been grounded. Reports were making their way back to our hostel that it would be impossible to buy a ticket out of Chiang Mai until at least the 3rd December. We were hoping that our long treks to Laos Airlines would pay off and headed to the airport clutching our tickets.

As it turned out, it was one of the smoothest check-ins we have ever enjoyed. The airport did seem quiet - with the only noise coming from the CNN reports about the horrific Mumbai terrorist attacks. Our plane, however, looked like something out of Indianna Jones and the Temple of Doom (that one where they parachute onto the Himalayas on a lifeboat!). But it got us there nice and smoothly in less than an hour and landed on a tiny airstrip carved out of the jungle, just next to the might Mekong River. It was an incredible sight. Our queue for visas was quick and friendly and before we knew it we were on our way to Silichit Guesthouse (booked by Guy for the very amusing name!).

On our first night - and even arriving in the dark - we could tell that Luang Prabang would live up to its reputation. It was incredibly beautiful. The earthy colours of the land, river and forest merged together to give it this soft, luscious appearance. The streets were dusty but impecibly clean. The people were smiling and going about their business in the most relaxed but industrious way (a contradiction I know, but true). After checking in, we wandered along the banks of the Mekong, passed bars and restaurants with candles and fairy lights. The French-colonial style of the buildings merged beautifully with the rough and rustic river banks. In fact, the fusion of French-Lao culture seemed to be a meeting of two minds - a laid back atmosphere with a strong focus on great food and even better hospitality. We had a great Lao welcome in the first bar we went into. We had ordered two fruit 'mocktails' that were on the menu, only to watch the staff rush out to the shops to buy the ingredients and then 3 waiters in the bar over the road pour of the cocktail book to work out how to make them. Our dirnks were then walked over the road before put in front of us with a great flourish! The barman was so friendly and was learning English so practiced lots of questions on us and taught us how to count to 10! For our first meal, we visited a local Lao restaurant where I went a bit 'leftfield' and ordered 'facon' which turned out to be an unidentiflable bird with big knuckles! It took a bit of work to find the meat, but it was very tasty. (If anyone can tell me what I ate, I'd be very grateful!).

The next morning we thought the best way to get our bearings would be to climb the mount in the middle of the town, which had amazing views over the Mekong and beyond to the mountains. We were planning to stay for 4 days so after some breakfast, checked out some trekking in the local area. We were looking for a tour group that seemed the most ethical when it came to walking through local tribe villages and found an excellent place called White Elephant Tours. The guy in the shop - Lao - was so friendly and we got a good feeling about it so booked for the one day trek to a waterfall. For the rest of the day, we enjoyed just biffing around the town. It's the kind of place that makes you want to walk slower and take more time over things. For lunch we savoured a bowl of noodles by the river while watching the fisherman and long boats scoot across the river (and I saw a river snake - with big nature bonus points!).

Our eternal quest to find all the Laos Airline offices in SE Asia was satisfied with yet another visit, this time to buy our two remaining internal flight tickets. The office was packed with tourists diverted from Thailand because of the demonstrations and trying to find a new routes home. We managed to secure our flights but didn't have enough cash on us  to pay for them - meaning we had to come back and make one more vist - hurrah! But at least it's a small town and nowhere is more than 15 minutes walk. So instead we rested inside a Lao/French bistro watching the world - and the Buddhist monks - go by.

That night after a mooch around the night market, full of exquisite handicrafts, we caved and gave our diet of noodles and rice a break for one night and had a pizza (yes, I know, shame on us - but at least Guy had the Lao pizza with seaweed and chilli on it and mine had Asian vegetables!). The next day we were off treking so went back early to dust of the hiking boot.