Luang Prabang

Sad to say "goodbye" to Vang Vieng, but then again the only real downside to travelling is that you're permanently on the move. Next destination, a further six hours bus ride north, Luang Prabang, the former capital of the kingdom and home to some 30-plus wats (pagodas).

Quite rightly Luang Prabang has adopted the title "jewel of Indochina" and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. This ancient royal city is surrounded by mountains at the junction of the Mekong and its tributary, the Khan. At the heart of the town - named after the Prabang golden statue, or "great holy image" - lies Mount Phousi, a temple topped hill boasting stunning views of surrounding temples and hills.

Luang Prabang has an interesting history, like all of Laos, given that it's been pillaged, razed and rebuilt over the years - last to invade were the Chinese Ho in the 1880s. It's an easy-going city, with little more than 10,000 inhabitants, that can't fail to win travellers over with its French charm and influence, great food and splendid setting.

Indeed, English travel writer Norman Lewis described LP as: "A tiny Manhattan, but a Manhattan with holy men in yellow robes in its avenues, with pariah dogs and garlanded pedicabs carrying somnolent Frenchmen nowhere, and doves in the sky. Down at the lower tip where Wall Street should have been was a great congestion of monasteries."

Given that the city is dominated by pagodas naturally we embarked on a "wat watching" tour. Our ambition, to visit all of the 32 sites dotted around the leafy streets and tranquil courtyards. We were going great guns until a group of monks caught Marit picking fruit from their trees, forcing us to seek refuge in a nearby bar - which just happenedto stock ice cold Beer Lao (sorry to digress, but this stuff really is ambrosia - the drink of the gods. In 2003 it was proclaimed as "Asia's best beer" by TIME magazine and last year the "Dom Perignon of Asian beers" by The Bangkok Post.)

Scouting temples is thirsty work you know, especially when it's undertaken in 37 degrees of searing heat! During one pit-stop we were reminded just how small the world really is, bumping into our Canadian friends from Vang Vieng Kristy and Graham - who, rather conveniently, have developed a Beer Lao addiction too. One led to two led to three led to....you know the score. A unanimous decision was, reluctantly, made to scrap the remaining wats - we made 12 or so, not bad considering they all look the same - in favour of further refreshment. The day/night ended several drunken hours later after we'd dined on a "cook your own" meal, from which, I'm certain, at least one of us will wind up with Salmonella.

Waking up to a terrible feeling of guilt - that we'd shunned cultural activity in favour, or should I say flavour, of alcoholic refreshment - we set out to climb Mount Phousi. The view from the top is superb, especially towards evening when the setting sun colours the Mekong blood red, but, as with all good things, it comes with a price. In this case a climb of some 300 steps! Straddling the Phousi (excuse juvenile humour) is the 20m high Wat Chamsi stupa, oh, and about two dozen locals pedalling crisp-sized bags of opium and marijuana.

At night the main thorough fare, Xiang Thong, is cordoned off and transformed into a dazzling night market. For several hours each evening Lao locals descend on the street with their goods and wares, which include bottles of home-brewed whisky housing all manner of evil looking reptiles. Like so many spots in Asia it provides the perfect, not to mention cheap, opportunity to decorate and refurbish your abode. Unfortunately, in our case, we don't have a home!