I can’t say either of us were actually looking forward to much to spending a night there but needs must and all of that. I also knew that we would end up paying a bit extra and getting a decent room if the cheap ones looked in the slightest bit dodgy!!!

It was a great feeling to see Pakbeng come into view, it had been a very long day and we were definitely looking forward to getting off our slow boat as it was getting fairly cold as the sun had gone behind the surrounding hills. I had got talking to an older couple from Yorkshire who had been travelling for a few months and their stories about accommodation in Pakbeng were enough to put off the most hardy of travellers!!!

Finally the boat came to a stop and it was time to get moving so we headed for a place recommended by Rough

Guide but to be honest, it was well dodgy and I could almost guarantee that we would be spending the night in the company of rats - yuk! Something I was definitely not prepared to do! So we decided to go and check out a few more places and we ended up with a lovely room in a tour group hotel. It was well worth the money, the room was nice and clean and didn’t have any holes where furrys could come roaming!!! The town didn’t have any electric so everything was run by generator and it was a lights out by 10 pm kind of place, so we knew we’d be in for an early night. We just wanted to wander at first and try and get some feeling back into our bodies so we checked out the town and were pleasantly surprised. There were a host of reasonably looking restaurants that all served veggie food so after a short while we went to eat. We had a great meal and we feeling quite sad about it being our last but one night in Laos.