18th June - Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang

There was still no working ATM so we scrapped together our last US dollars to change for the fare to Louang Prabang and walked the long road to bus station.

The minibus had a reasonable amount of room at first but soon became more clautrophobic as more people squeezed on and contorted themselves into the small spaces that were left. It didn't improve any when the kid in front of us threw up all over but it didn't seem to shake her mother at all and it was soon all cleared up and forgotten.

We arrived at bus station , helped unload the chickens from the roof and talked a songtheaw driver into taking us into the town for little bit of money we had left. As soon as we stepped off, we bumped into the Kiwi girls, Amber and Miriam and arranged to try and catch up later.

After checking into the nearest guesthouse, Villa Aphay, we found an ATM but were still left without much cash because we pressed the wrong button and payed all the stupid fees for just a few quid. It's easy done when there are so many noughts on everything. Just $122 makes you a millionaire in Laos kip. We did manage to get a sightly better rate on our Dong though and so cashed that in too.

The absolute highlight of the day was managing, after a fair bit of faffing, to catch an hour with Belinda and Jordan, who I met on my mega-trip from Cambodia to Chesterfield when I came home. I could not have asked for a greater source of comfort after I'd said my goodbyes to Matt and took my first step on the long journey home. Their kindness and companionship kept me afloat all the way to Bangkok and I was overwhelmed by how much they did for me just by being there and being them.

After yesterday's news it just seemed so appropriate that they were there again. It somehow felt like I had come full-circle from when I had seen them last and, despite the sadness of the situation, I was delighted to see them just before they headed home to the US themselves.

We spent some time exploring Louang Prabang in he afternoon and trying to unearth the charm that many people find there. We walked by the river a while, looked in some windows and saw the start of the night market but headed back before it got started properly as I wanted to Skype my mum and we were intending to get up early to see the monks receive their alms at 5am.