The next stop in Laos was Louang Prabang. A pleasant little town on the Mekong with almost nothing going for it beyond a pleasant ambiance, some Buddhist caves, a very nice night market and the odd bar or two. We spent a relaxing couple of days here, nevertheless, enjoying, coincidentally, the pleasant ambiance, a boat trip to the Buddhist caves, an evening trawl around the arts in crafts on sale at the night market. We also found time for an impromptu and very drunken karaoke evening which was a lot of fun. Despite there being not much to do here it was a very enjoyable visit and I was sorry to leave. This, as much because the prospect of getting back on the truck and of rough camping was wearing a little thin as Louang Prabang holding us in any particular thrall. Get back on the truck we did, however.

Normally this part of this trip is spent on boat drifting slowly down the Mekong. Whilst this might sound idyllic, it is, we were reliably informed, not too kind on the old derriere, and so there had been a concerted campaign to remove this from the programme and replace it with a drive down Route 13. Route 13 has only recently become accessible to tour companies as the FCO has had a red flag on it. Apparently a few years back a couple of backpackers were killed here by bandits. However, the red flag has now been lifted and so we were allowed to make this part of the journey by road. This was something of a relief at least to those of us whose derrieres had been thoroughly abused by riding in the back of a truck for what was now approaching six months.

Making this part of the trip by road was quite a coup as it turns out. Route 13 traverses some of the most beautiful scenery that we saw in SE Asia. Let me tell you, that is no small accolade; it has some stiff competition. This drive put us smack in the middle of Laos' karst landscape. Once an ancient coral reef many times the length of the Gt. Barrier reef, this is part of a continuous strip of limestone land-forms that stretch from the south of China all the way into Thailand. It is these rock formations that are responsible for the 'classic' Thai beach scenes that are so familiar from films and postcards. In Laos, rather than projecting from the sea these startling monoliths rise abruptly and to incredible heights straight out of the padi-fields and tropical forest. It really is quite spectacular. Otherwise, Route 13 passed uneventfully. There was a slight nervous moment when a guy in a t-shirt and shorts wandered nonchalantly in front of the truck carrying a semi-automatic rifle, but we were assured that he was part of the local militia installed to provide safe transit for vehicles on this route. The bandits are now mostly elsewhere. Phew!