Laos

Ok, some explaining to do first.....I have been trying to stay up to date but it has been very difficult so in order to catch up I'm going to have to cut some corners and leave out the details but I will do my best to tell of my traveling adventures over the past 2 weeks....
I left you at Pangkor island and I was on my way to Thailand. So slight change in plans. Right before I left for my trip I found out my friend Reid was going to be traveling with some friends in SE Asia as well. So in order to meet up with him and his friends I took a train from Malaysia to Bangkok (a 20 hour train, quite the experience). After just spending a day in Bangkok we went North to Laos (another long traveling day of 9 hours on a bus). But we eventually made it to Vang Vien in Laos to meet up with the rest of his traveling group. So now my itinerary has slightly changed and I have saved Thailand for the end of my trip (I fly out of Bangkok).

Lao Women at the market in a random hill town we stopped at

Ok, now that you know where I am let me tell some stories. First off Laos is a wonderful country! I fell in love with it the moment we entered. Tourism hasn't hit at full force here so it has so much character. The people are wonderful and you can't find a McDonalds here (or any other chain for that matter). Highways also don't exist which makes driving anywhere quite the ordeal but it gives you time to enjoy the scenery and the scenery is absolutely stunning! Rice fields, mountains lined with lush forest, and beautiful limestone formations that just abrupt out of the ground. Few and far between the breathtaking views are small villages with huts on stilts built out of bamboo with palm leaf roofs. The villages are scattered with smiling children and an array of animals including chickens, cows, turkeys, ducks, dogs, cats and pigs. It seems they all just belong to the village rather than just one family. All this makes the long drives getting from one destination to the next much more bearable.

Vang Vieng and the Mekong

In Vang Vieng on our first full day we did what most people go there to do, tubing. I won't go into much detail, this story is one I'll save for my friends over a beer but tubing in Vang Vieng means you rent an inner tube and they drive you about 5 miles north of town and then you float down the Mekong river and stop at the many bars that line it's banks. With that said you can imagine what you like of the experience but all in all it was a blast.

On out way to our guest house.....

The next day we rented some motor bikes and went out to an area with caves to explore and swimming holes to swim in. The drive out was beautiful and I had my first experience of swimming in a cave, quite refreshing actually.

Rope swing at the swimming hole, lots of fun!

I don't know if you can tell but that's me swimming in a cave.

A friend I made at the swimming hole. He was quite the photographer and borrowed my camera for a little while and took about 50 photos, they weren't bad either.

The next day the group split off and I went north to Luang Prabang with Reid and his friend Jason. We were very fortunate in our timing there because all over Laos they were celebrating Bun Awk Phansa, a holiday that celebrates the end of the rainy season. So how do they celebrate? Well the first night one of the temples housed a festival that included food, games, music and an interesting sport called kataw (not sure on spelling). Imagine 3 on 3 volleyball with a bamboo ball the size of a grapefruit and you can't use your hands. It was quite impressive. The next day was the big evening celebration where they put on a parade of "fire boats" as they called them. These were boats about the size of a kayak they make out of bamboo and decorate it with tissue paper and candles. All together there were about 10 and they were beautiful! Everyone carried them down the main street while singing and dancing. They then put the boats into the Mekong river and let them float away. On top of that each individual (including me, Reid, and Jason) buys or makes their own small float usually made out of palm leaves and flowers. Once you put your own float into the water you're supposed to make a wish. We were very lucky to be here for the festival, it was quite the experience.

Some of the "wish floats". Just imagine those with incense and candles as well.

During the day in Luang Prabang we mainly just wandered around the town. There are many temples to see and some great markets for shopping. On our second day we got outside of the city to a waterfall where we did some hiking and swimming.

Temple in Luang Prabang, they're everywhere!

Buddhist Monks, they're everywhere as well given the number of temples. These guys stopped and talked to us for a while to practice their English. They were very nice (I know it may not seem so in the photo but it's a common theme that Monks don't smile in photos).

Waterfall outside Luang Prabang

After 3 days in Luang Prabang we hopped on a slow boat to head north. The slow boat experience is one that many travelers have when they come to Laos in order to get from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai (a border crossing into Thailand). Half the boat was foreigners and we made some friends fast: 2 guys from Holland, one from England, and a girl from Ireland (Niamh, she will come up later in my travels). The boat ride takes two days of floating along the Mekong where you're surrounded by beautiful scenery and pretty much no civilization. The boat isn't the most comfortable thing, you sit on wooden benches with a straight back rest but once the boat gets moving everyone just moves them around and ends up sitting on the floor which is far more comfortable.

Some slow boats parked on the river (this is what ours looked like as well)

Slow boat arrangement before....

Slow boat arrangement after....

Typical scenery from the boat

Sunset on the Mekong

After 9 hours of slow boating we arrived at Pak Beng, a small town where the electricity goes out after 10 pm which was quite pleasant with a full moon. The next morning it was back on the slow boat toward Huay Xai, our destination because it was the home of a program called the Gibbon Experience (that explanation will soon follow in another entry). Once we arrived we went to make our reservations with the program and then had a night on the town with the our slow boat friends. The next morning....Gibbon Experience.

Slow boat crew with our beer lao's