From Supertiger to Mekong Dolphins

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Well it's been a while since I've written, and we've been up to a lot. In Vang Vieng we went tubing (we being team Beerlao, eight people from the trek and two aussies we picked up at the border). Tubing consists of floating down the river in an innertube. What makes it so great is that all along the river banks there are "bars" set up, where you can go off some crazy jumps and rope swings if you buy a beer (this is where team Beerlao earned its name). The last jump of the day was a swing that you stand on, and a bunch of guys pulled you back super high and then let go, launching you into the water. Of course the more scared you are, the farther you are pulled back, so needless to say, I got some serious air time.

We headed to Vientiene a couple days later. There really wasn't much to do there, but team Beerlao was parting ways so we decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal at a fancy French restaurant. Then we smuggled some Supertiger whiskey into a bar and had a great last night together.

Five of us continued the trip down to the 4000 islands, a point in the very South of Laos where the Mekong fans out and there are many (possibly even 4000) islands.
THe island we were on was really laid back, beautiful, and rustic - no electricity or motor vehicles. There were a few spider incidents, resulting in my refusal to shower (I bathed in the Mekong instead local style). We rented bikes one day and saw some huge waterfalls, Nick battled a hammock (and lost), and we went on a full day kayak trip that nearly killed us all. We paddled 18 km on the Mekong, including some intense rapids at the bottom of the scary waterfalls from the day before. Us girls got to go with guides, but the guys had to tackle them solo. There was a bend in the rapids and all we saw was Nick floating out of the rapids sans kayak. He was alright, but then we accidently steered our kayak right into his head. He's tough though and survived. Omar also capsized, but it was only after he survived the rapids and raised his arms in celebration. Me and Steph swam with river dolphins later while everyone else was on the beach of some Cambodian island.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Nick and made our way to Savanaket. We almost missed the boat because our breakfast took an hour to make, then we got on the most foul local bus from Pakse to Savanaket. It was a sweaty, crowded sauna inside, it stopped every 20 minutes, people were smoking (others eating cockroach kebobs), the roof leaked, and some guy right in front of us was coughing up god knows what and spitting it on the bus. We almost braved a night bus to Vietnam, but after much deliberation and some tears, we decided to hold out here a couple days for the tourist bus.

Thats it for now, I'll write again from Vietnam!

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Photos

Vang Vieng
the view from our balcony

the Flying Fox
the first (and most sober)of the stops along the river

Who needs a bridge?
on the way to the lagoon

crowded bus
at first you've just got to laugh, several hours later, however...

Don Det
our lovely huts, $1.50 a night

Tour de Don Det 2
on kayaks!