LAOS - Phonsavan (Sunday 25th March 5.30pm)

Why anyone would want to abandon their friends, forgo tubing and episodes of Friends and sit on an excruciating bus that winds its way up and down and round and round, while desperately trying to keep the contents of their stomach in place, to go and look at a field full of jars, might seem to some of you a mystery. I, however, lept gleefully onto the 8.30am bus, nursing an acute hangover, content that I was doing the right thing.
Well really, can you go to a country and NOT see its jars? I think not. So here I am in dusty and not so pretty Phonsavan trying to organise transport to the jars tomorrow.

My 3 nights in Luang Prabang were blissful. Yesterday we took a rusty minibus to the waterfall, breaking down on route (my Lonely Planet ensures me is a feature of bus rides here). The waterfall was the closest I think nature has managed to get to Disney. The water tumbled down into blue blue pools where butterflies flirtatiously flitted in and out of the dappled evening sunlight and posed on rocks. I insisted on scaling the rock face to the very top of the waterfall, just to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and teetering on the edge, the water plummeting down beneath me, I had an amazing view of the forest and surrounding mountains.
We splashed around happily for a few hours and made our way back to Luang Prabang, stopping to pick up a beer Lao on route.

Seeing as I'd picked up the well trodden traveller's trail in Chian Kong, I managed to gather quite a crowd of companions who we'd bump into here and there. Most oddly though I ran into someone from university. What is the likelihood of that in Luang Prabang?! (For those of you who'd be interested, it was Devon Tom - Derby Dave's mate who left after a couple of months).
Last night we did as every self respecting Luang Prabang inhabitant did when they don't want to go to bed at midnight, we went bowling. Bizarre that 10 minutes out of town there is a modern bowling alley with a late night bar. As I suspected, I was terrible (I blame the beer) but my partners were gracious losers.

So now I have struck off the main trail again for something much more mind improving to purge myself of my indulgences. My plan has changed somewhat, I am no longer flying to Pnom Phen but making my way down by bus as I checked my starting date at the school and it is not until the 7th of April so I have time to see more of Laos.

Jars tomorrow, I'll let you know how they are. x