LAOS!!! (a.k.a. The Most Beautiful Country on Earth)

---

Sabaidee everyone!!

Alright, so I know it's been a really long time since I've updated this thing. I apologize. It's especially unfortunate because Laos was literally the most amazing country I think I've ever been to... and now I'm going to attempt to fit it all into one blog post. Take a deep breath. This might take a while.

VIENTIANE:
We (Christina, Becky, Jade, and I) first got into Vientiane on the 1st of July. Our "Death Bus" (notoriously the worst bus in SE Asia from Hanoi to VT) was actually amazing, and we all had a really great night's sleep. There isn't much to do in the capital city of Laos, but we ended up staying here for 3 days. We found an amazing night market - there is one by the riverside which is more geared towards tourists, but where we found an amazing deal on beer as well as STICKY RICE STICKS, which are basically flat mushed together patties of sticky rice, stuck on a stick and then fried up. Best. Food. Ever. The other night market is in Chinatown and consists of one simple street with food vendors, but most Westerners don't venture there, so all of the prices are local prices and the food is incredibly varied. We spent most of our time here doing errand-like things, such as Skyping family members and updating blogs (I think I wrote my last blog from here, even though it had nothing to do with Laos). We did, however, manage to catch the Argentina-Holland World Cup game. We started watching it on a street corner with our food from the street stalls.. it was being broadcast on a massive big screen TV that was on the side of a building. (Because that's normal... a TV that cost thousands of dollars next to street food vendors and tuk tuks.. obviously normal.) We then decided that we were tired and Holland was kicking Argentina's rear (very sad), but as we were walking home, a bunch of Japanese guys convinced us to watch the rest of the game with them at a restaurant. After bargaining on beer, we figured we might as well. The night ended early (Laos has a VERY early culture, especially in comparison to Thailand and Vietnam) as we had to wake up the following morning to catch the bus to Vang Vieng.

We've been taking VIP buses, which cater to tourists, but we were determined to take a local, cheaper bus. We got up for the bus and made it to the bus station about an hour before the bus was supposed to leave. It was already completely full. From God knows where, the bus driver's right hand man pulled out some little red stools and started setting them up in the aisles. We looked at each other, knowing that these were to be our seats for the next four hours. It turned out to be the best bus ride ever. The scenery along that route is stunning, and to be surrounded by locals, with only two other Westerners on the bus (that we only noticed when we got off, because the bus was so packed), it was like a little slice of heaven.

VANG VIENG:
Anyone who has been to Southeast Asia in the last five years will know of Vang Vieng within the first week of arrival, because it seems like every other person is wearing a "Tubing in Vang Vieng" shirt. Probably because pretty much anyone who goes to Laos goes to Vang Vieng... to go tubing. It's similar to the Full Moon Party in the sense that everyone does it and the main goal is to get absolutely wasted and eat a ton of Western food. After Vietnam, the last thing we all wanted to do was get absolutely wasted... but it was a bit of a necessity. It's also really well known for giving people pink eye - apparently 1 in 5 people who tube here get it. Becky had already contracted it in Vientiane. She's just ahead of the game =)

We arrived in Vang Vieng after our beautiful bus mid-day and spent most of the time trying to figure out how the hell one actually goes about tubing. Most people kept telling us that no one actually tubes, everyone just goes to the first few bars and gets wasted. ....Sweet? We had an early first night and decided to give ourselves one more day off by booking a tubing/kayaking trip.

The trip was great. We visited two caves, one of which we went tubing through. We had to use these crazy head lamp things that we thought were going to electrocute us to see because it was completely dark! We then had an amazing barbeque skewer and continued kayaking down the river. A very fun day!!

So... remember how I mentioned that Becky had already come down with pink eye? At about 5 a.m., Becky and I wake up to shouts of laughter from both Christina and Jade. They literally sounded like they were going to give themselves hernias. When we looked to find the cause of their laughter, we both erupted. Both Christina and Jade had one red eye almost completely swollen shut. Becky had given them pink eye. Although three out of four of us were in pain and gooing from the eye sockets, we would not let this inconvenience deter us from our mission of tubing in Vang Vieng. So, we all donned sunglasses and went to make our mark on this timeless adventure.

Basically, we spent the entire day at a few bars along the river, doing crazy things... and then we thought it'd be a good idea to take a swim. We all tried to get in the water, only to discover that the current was moving way quicker than we thought. We all had to scramble to stay afloat. I lost my sunglasses and dunked Becky's entire pink-eye infected head underwater, and all of us ended up holding on to some random guy that was struggling just as much as we were. Not including the loss of my fantastic sunglasses, we made it out unscathed. I made up for it later by stealing some guy's sunglasses, although I don't have a recollection of that specific event taking place (apparently it was fairly funny though). Karma hit a few hours later though, as we were walking to the next bar. We had to walk through some rice paddies which were very muddy, and cross over a small muddy stream on a little bamboo log/walkway thing. Guess who fell into the mud? Yep, you guessed it... me. A successful day of tubing.

We spent the next day recovering and I joined in the group, as I finally contracted pink eye. We just hung out during the day and then accidentally went out at night after playing a few rounds of cards. I won't say much about this night for fear of embarassing people... all I will say is "MY P-P-P-P-P-PINK EYE!" and Tap-tap Rude Boy barf. ...Ahhh, love you girls.

LUANG PRABANG:
We had booked a bus the previous afternoon for 10 a.m., with the tuk tuk picking us up at our hostel at 9:30. ....We woke up at 9:45. Literally, I rolled over in bed, looked at my iPod, and shot up screaming "IT'S 9:45! EXPLETIVE!" We packed in the most rushed, chuck everything in and worry about it later manner I've ever seen. The fact that we made it on that bus is one of the little glories that will live on forever. The bus ride was beautiful but it was a bit unfortunate due to the fact that there was a fair amount of vomiting going on (not from yours truly, but still). We arrived in Luang Prabang after about 6 hours on the bus and spent over an hour trying to find cheap accomodation (it's expensive there!). We finally found a really cute little guesthouse with crappy rooms but good fans and an amazing owner.

So... This is way too long and my time is running out on the internet (it's prepaid) BUT I promise to try and get this thing fully updated after the retreat. I'll skip to the current time for now and then continue on with Luang Prabang, Nong Khiaw, Muang Ngoi, Luang Nam Tha, and the bus trip from hell at a later date.

I'm leaving Bangkok tonight for a Buddhist meditation retreat at a place called Suan Mokkh. It's a 10-day retreat, starting on the 1st (the 31st is registration) in which no one can speak. There is no internet, no reading, no music, no dancing, no singing, no.. nothing. The entire focus is to meditate and go within. Apparently about 10% of people drop out, but I'm confident that I'll make it through!! After the retreat is over, I have to do a quick visa run to Burma as I'll already have overstayed my visa by one day, and then I'm going to quickly bus it back up to Bangkok, where I'll be meeting back up with Christina!!

Hope all is well!! Love you guys!!

---

Comments

[Jennifer Ainsworth]

hello
Your dad forwarded your blog to me. Sounds like your having the time of your life. I can't believe all the places you've been to. What an great experience. Hope you enjoyed the meditation retreat. I've been reading about Buddism and it's very interesting. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Jennifer