There aren't really words or even pictures that can do justice to how incredibly beautiful the town of Luang Prabang is - the whole place was named a World Heritage site in 1995. It reminded me a bit of Hoi An with its French-Indochinese architecture, really tranquil atmosphere; you'd see saffron-robed monks walking through streets of yellow colonial wooden-panelled shop fronts, longtail boats gliding down the Mekong, a buzzing night market selling intricate traditional handicrafts, and it is apparently "the most Lao city in Laos" so has such a rich culture and amazingly varied cuisine.

We rented bikes and cycled round looking for some waterfalls on the first day, weren't successful in finding any but still had a good day soaking up the sights of the town. Unfortunately I managed to get a fever so was pretty much out of it for the next day, and was massively sad that I missed going with the girls to the big waterfall and to the Pak Ou cave which is used as a respository for old and unwanted Buddha relics so its just a massive cave filled with hundreds of Buddhas covered in dust and cobwebs and is meant to be cool and spooky.