Laos!

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We have made it to Vientiane. Thanks to heavily booked flights we have to stay in Vientiane for two nights before we can continue to Luang Prabang. The town is very pleasant, and we have a great hotel room for only $19. At dinner this evening we had Beer Lao, along with Lab (minced chicken with herbs & spices, served with sticky rice) and (a green papaya salad with lime juice and fish sauce and lots of spice).

We are very excited for our trek tomorrow. We'll be heading down to the village of Ban Na, where we will trek a little ways into the forest to camp at the Elephant Observation Tower. This is an ecotourism project arranged in order to provide an incentive for the local folks to protect the elephants, rather than shooting them for destroying crops. Below the tower where we'll sleep is a natural salt lick and watering hole, so we're hoping to see some wild elephants going about their business. Hopefully next time we post we'll have great pictures of elephants that don't involve men with sticks or city traffic.

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Photos

In Phnom Penh
We walked over to Wat Phnom this morning and saw the elephant again, this time at work.