Laos

We went to Laos! Before we started planning Laos was little more than a useful answer in pointless, but after visiting we came to be rather fond of the place. For the next few years, a page in our passports will be fully devoted to it.

We started off with a climb up the steps to the mount Phusi temple, where the buddha's footprint (it is about 3 feet long) , and a lot of Buddha statues can be found. This is also one of the best places to view the famous Laotian sunset, but we didn't fancy sharing it with the hundred or so backpackers, or waiting an hour and a half for it to finish setting (it was already looking beautiful and deep red) so we went down the other side and found some dinner. I was delighted to discover sweet and sour chicken under "laos dishes" and he local beer was delicious. (I didn't dare try the draft, which worked out at about 10p a glass. I love my ability to not spend 4 hours a day in the toilet).

The next day we did some serious loafing in the room with the air con on full blast. Eventually we got hungry so went and found coffee and foot at a cafe, then walked around the other temples and had a boat ride at sunset, ticking "see the sunset over the Mekong in Laos" off my list of cool things I didn't know I wanted to do until I'd done them.

The temperatures were hitting 38°c so we were quite lethargic and taking our time getting anywhere. We visited the royal palace (they exiled their royals in the 70s, but still don't mind showing their old cars to the tourists) and drank more coffee and generally chilled out.

On our final day we took a minibus out to the massive waterfall, which was beautiful and spectacular at the top, but also had pools where you would paddle and swim underneath, so I cemented my position as someone who frolics under waterfalls, but I didn't actually swim, as the water seemed to be full of those fish that bite the loose skin off your feet, and I was quite startled.

Then we took a plane to Cambodia!