Laos - Updated

Made it to Laos! The 2 day slow boat down the Mekong river was beautiful at first, then got really crowded and cramped. Luang Prabang was a nice enough town, but definitely a tourist trap. After a 5 hours on treacherous winding mountain roads shrouded in mist, a rickety minivan has deposited me in Vang Vieng. Here I should be able to go tubing down the river and generally chill out. That is, after I do my school stuff...

Here are some more pics*, including the jungle trek and some temples in Laos. I didn't get photos of riding elephants, but it was pretty cool too. Feeding them bananas was kind of like shaking hands with a wet vacuum cleaner.

I've noticed, though, that when I'm in a beautiful scene or experiencing a cool setting, fumbling with the camera somehow cheapens the experience. Pictures are nice, but I'm only taking them when there's something really photo worthy. Also, detailing every experience here in my blog is impossible; I can't even recap the highlights. It's all fantastic. I'll be glad to tell as many stories as you like over dinner and wine when I return. For now, I'm going to fully experience this place and my adventures, stopping once in a while to post and let you all know I'm not dead.

Next after Laos will be Bangkok again for a couple of days, then Cambodia, then back to southern Thailand for the infamous Full Moon Party. Good times, to be sure.

--Update--
Back in Bangkok, and I have to say that one of the best party towns I have ever been in was Vang Vieng in Laos. If any of you have been in my presence for more than 5 minutes, you've probably heard my rant on how adults don't really have any fun places to go. Bars and the like are lame, and we should have totally outrageous, possibly life threatening fun stuff by now.

Vang Vieng is exactly what I was talking about.

The whole reason this town exists is so people can get into big inner tubes, float a short way down the river, and hop from bar to bar right on the water's edge. At these places, squat bamboo huts have inexplicably hi-tech stereo systems, crowds of bikini clad travelers are dancing, and terrifyingly high rope swings let super-drunk 20-somethings hurl themselves headlong into one of the most dangerous rivers in the world. It was AWESOME.

And when you've had your fill of the rope swing, just float a little further down the way to the bar with an unbelievably huge waterslide/ski ramp, which allows further libation-induced near death experiences. While you're there, 'bob marley' cigarettes and 'happy mushroom' shakes are plainly displayed on the menu. Safety, drug laws, and general common sense seem to be checked at the door when visiting this place. When the setting is allowed to work it's chintzy, carefree magic, it really reminds me how important it is to be fun-loving and footloose. Provided you don't die, of course.

Along the same theme, the Full Moon Party in the southern islands of Thailand are rumored to be some of the biggest parties in the world, and I'm sure I'll see many people from previous towns there. Don't worry, everyone, I'm well aware of the inherent dangers and intend to keep my wits about me... and still enjoy myself, of course.



* Scratch that, apparently the intertoobz are being fussy and don't want to let me upload photos. I'll try again later.

** OK, fixed it.

More later,

-Tim

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