The land of a million elephants

We've spent two weeks in this searingly hot, dazzlingly beautiful and frighteningly poor country and it's been a highlight of our trip this far. The scenery here is gorgeous, breathtaking and stark and there have been moments along the way when I have been mesmerized by the stunning landscape of one of the poorest nations on earth.

The ride to Luang Prabang will always stick out in my mind... our bus stopped every few minutes along hot, dusty roads where dozens of children crowded around our bus, barefoot, selling everything and anything on sticks. We slowly snaked our way out of the towns and into mountains with hundred feet drop offs on one side. Bare hills, scarred with fires, scorching sun and hundreds of years of neglect.

In Luang Prabang the temperature dropped and the evenings became cool as our town enclosed by grey mountaints faded into night. The textiles in L.P were amazing and I lost my shopping-cool to beautiful cotton skirts, silk bags, snug slippers, Lao coffee. At 7am each morning the monks that live in L.P arrive on the main street where locals and volunteers dish out their breakfast of sticky rice, softly depositing the donation into a gold urn slung over the monks' shoulders. The orange robes, shaved heads and soft, bare feet of the monks is an awe inspiring sight to see.

In Vang Vieng the tourism tone changes dramatically. Gone are the mist shrouded nights and the early morning croissants. Instead they are replaced by loud bars brimming over with rowdy backpackers and jaded locals. The street echoes with sounds of the sitcom Friends as each bar uses their DVD collection and TV set to compete for customers. Local food is non-existent; Happy Shakes are everywhere.

We had a great time in Vang Vieng nonetheless, spending our 2 days floating down the river on inner tubes along with every other tourist in town. The ride takes 3 hours but is easily broken up by the makeshift bars along the way selling the all too popular Beer Lao, snacks and Lao Lao, a formidable local rice wine. As you float around each corner you hear whoops from tourists flying through the air on rope swings and plunging into the cool river below. Vang Vieng is a backpackers escape from Asia but a nice break for a day or two.

Vientiane is a sprawling mess compared to the first two places but is still a city of only 200,000. The highlights of Vientiane were purely culinary. Our mornings began with freshly baked bread, cheese and a steamy cup of coffee at the Scandinavian bakery and continued in the early afternoon sipping Beer Lao by the Mekong and munching down a spicy plate of Papaya Salad. The occasional plate of cheese and glass of wine made its way into our dinners as the French influence in Laos is huge and therefore difficult to ignore.

And here we sit in the steamy, sweltering city of Savannakhet where there is little else to do other than admire the crumbling French colonial architecture and find respite from the heat in air conditioned internet cafes or our next stop, a bar along the Mekong.