Off road biking, river kayaking and village people

For the last two days I've been in the hills to the north of Luang Prabang - a world away, even from this quaint town. The first day involved a 30km bike ride up rough tracks passing through several hill / jungle villages where the local children ran out to greet us. The trip was off the beaten tourist track, so most of the kids hadn't seen westerners and were fascinated by us taking digital photos of them, and then being able to view the photos themselves. We also visited a couple of schools on the way and stayed overnight in a remote village, before returning via kayak (plus a bit of swimming - some of the rapids were a bit tricky!); a very serene and peaceful way to cruise back into town (well at least when I was actually in the kayak!)