Laos - Xam Neua

Another cowboy bus journey in a little school bus to the small of Xam Neua in the mountains near the Vietnamese border. Just about managed to see England beat Paraguay: there had been a day's power cut just before we arrived. There were no bars or anything so watched it in the guest house reception on Laos TV with funny commentary. A big crowd for the match: Rory, Caz, a Finnish guy and an Alaskan girl and the guest house owner who kept having to fetch a flagpole to twiddle with the aerial.

Visited the Pathet Lao caves where the Lao Communists hid out for about 10 years in the 60s and 70s, set in beautiful mountains and now surrounded by pretty gardens, hiding the troubled past. Then set off on a random unguided trek to find a waterfall that we'd heard rumour of. Ended up squelching through rice paddies and clambering up a rocky river to get a view of it, it was huge!