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Published: June 17th 2008
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Day 45-April 19th: I got up around 7ish, and had breakfast with the Bangkok residents (Alex, Chelsea and Nathalie). Wouldn't you know it, we saw Jeff, Rachel, Blake, and Libby walking down the street! It's a small (backpacker) world! Six of us agreed to go on a private tour (Chelsea and Nathalie opted out).
We first visited Elephant Caves. We took our inner tubes into a dark cave to check out the stalagmites and stalagtites with our head lamps. We weren't sure how safe it was having a battery hanging around our necks and being in the water and all.... but others came out ahead of us and none of them looked electrocuted, so we went in. Another group of travelers went in at the same time, so there were about a dozen of us, including a guide, that were kicking around in the dark cave with only our little lamps to guide the way. The formations in the cave were really cool! When we got to the end of the line, the guide was there so smear mud from the river bed on us! I guess this is a bit of a tradition. Those of us that were first to that point in the cave were already covered with mud, so they in turn got me and I in turn got some of them back! What are we, ten years old?!? It was all in good fun, we had a good laugh about it. We turned around and paddled our tubes out to the cave entrance and washed off the messy mud and headed back to the songthaew.
Next stop was the Organic Farm for lunch. Despite a long wait for our food, we had a delicious meal of curry and mulberry treats. Mulberry tea and Mulberry desserts are their specialty. Yum! We finally got on the river there on the riverbank next to the the restaurant and began our tubing adventure down the Nam Song River. This is what people come to Vang Vieng for!
We took our time getting down the river. It takes about 4 hours if you stop off (as we did) at the riverside bars/restaurants for food, drinks, and trapeze/zip-line things set up for you to jump into the river. I didn't try it, I stayed safely in my inner tube. The six of us stayed together at first, but somewhere along the way we split into two groups. We met up again further down the river. It was bound to happen, since everyone wants to stop off and have a beer along the way! We saw others from the slow boat from a few days back. Again, it's a small (backpacker) world! Among the folks we ran into again were Matt and Marion whom I remembered because they used to teach at Aston in Dalian. It was fun to see them again!
By the time I got off the river, I was no longer with "my crew" but with other new friends. I returned my tube to the shop where we had rented them. I should have stuck around for the other to come back, but I remembered that Jeff and Blake were talking about holding on to their tubes for an extra day. They wanted to go down the river again the next day! I didn't, I had to move on to Vientiane. So I went back to the hotel and showered and changed. I ended up walking down to the hotel where the Irish gals were staying. I waited for them to get ready for dinner, and the five of us went up the street for something to eat. We saw Alex walking down the street, he said that the others were down at Smile Bar on the river and we should come and join them. I wanted to, but had already made plans with the Irish gals. So we ate dinner and watched Friends (all the bars in town show Friends all day long, it's just what they do). I tried to get the Irish gals to hurry along so we could meet the others, but they were tired and in no hurry to meet the others.
We finally made it to Smile Bar, but none of the others were there anymore. We moved to the next bar over and had some happy shakes and cocktail buckets. It seems that SE Asia is really into the bucket-o-drinks thing! We then went to Jaidee's, where the Irish gals wanted to hang out and have a round of shakes. I knew that the other party people were at Bucket Bar for a bit, but by the time Linda and I walked over there, the place had emptied out. There is a bit of a curfew in town, though loosely enforced. I appreciated that Linda was game enough to traipse around looking for our other friends, since the other three Irish gals were just doing their own thing and didn't want to bother. As Linda and I were at Bucket Bar talking to a fellow Irishman traveler, I started to feel faint from the happy shakes I had consumed. I knew it was time for me to go home, so Linda kindly walked me home to make sure I'd be okay! Thank goodness for her!
Day 46-April 20th: I woke up feeling groggy - the after-effects of the shakes from last night! I had breakfast at Luang Prabang Bakery again, and was joined by the Bangkok gang. We saw Blake and Jeff again! We were on a bus to Vientiane at 10 AM, so had to go get our backpacks and check out. As we were leaving, we saw Blake, Jeff, Rachel and Libby and said our goodbyes. Turns out that Blake and Jeff had a crazy night of their own with some gals they met on the river, so they were staying in town for a couple more days, whereas Rach and Libby were heading to Vientiane the next day. Maybe we will run into each other again, who knows? Such is the nature of the backpacker circuit!
We arrived in Vientiene around 2 PM, and I said goodbye to the others. They were heading to the Thailand border and had an evening flight back to Bangkok. I went looking for cheap accomodation, and found Mixok Guesthouse. I ate an early dinner at Nazim Indian Restaurant, then went for a stroll around the neighborhood. My guesthouse was near the Presidential Palace and near the Mekong River - which was very low by the way! I then went to an internet cafe for a few hours to catch up on my emails and photos and to check flights to Cambodia. I decided to save time and skip southern Laos and just fly to Cambodia instead. I then went for a late dinner - pizza! - and finally headed to bed for a much-needed good night's sleep.
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Kristine
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Mulberry is...
So what on earth is Mulberry, it sounds very American.