Heading to Laos!

Sian and I are currently in Luang Prabang Laos, and its lovely. 

slow boats are indeed slow

one of the many many temples

very rickety bamboo bridge!

never touch a monk if you're a woman...they really don't like it

We got a minivan/bus around 8:30 pm on Wednesday to head for the border of Thailand and Laos. Sian and I were first on the van so headed straight for the back where we thought we'd have the most room. As the van started to fill up, we realized we were going to be joined by the whole van's luggage, making it a very cozy ride indeed. The 7 hour journey sure was a bumpy one, but we made sure the driver wasn't at all sleepy before heading off. It was so bumpy, in fact, that Sian and I managed to be lifted off of our seats on many occasions which made sleeping quite difficult (probably didn't help that we were sat over the rear wheels.) This was not the sleeper bus we had hoped for after a week of not sleeping due to neighboring clubs and roosters, but we were looking forward to our 4 hours of sleep at our destination. We got to Chiang Khong at 3am, and slept like logs until 7am when it was time for breakfast. After a delish breakie on the water, we boarded a boat and headed for the border crossing...it was MANIC! There were about 200 hundred people smooshed into a small space filling out forms and no idea what was going on, frantically trying to pass passports through the office window. After the initial mayhem, it was time for an early morning beer until we had to collect our passports which was an even crazier system. The man at his desk would hold a passport up to the window at waist-height, so anyone behind the first row of people had no idea who's passport was ready. Luckily there was a lovely loud American man at the front yelling everyone's name out so we could squeeze past the B.O and swearing to get our passports. Fine. After some more confusion and waiting around (and a lovely tuna sangwhich) we boarded our beloved slow boat. In the mean time, we had met two lovely Dutch girls who we're now traveling with, Saskia and Christine. So we picked some good seats and buckled down, ready for our 8 hour journey to the next town where we would sleep for the night...or so we thought. Our slow boat was in fact very slow, and we didn't make it to our destination. It got too dark, and the boat driver couldn't see anything, so it was probably a good thing we pulled up to a beach for the night. Our boat had people on it ranging in ages from 1 year old to 70+, but most people stayed calm and enjoyed the adventure. Some of us went on the beach and made a bon-fire (and some of us just sat in front of the bonfire and were grateful that others made it). It was FREEZING at night, but Sian and I snuggled up under our sleeping bags. The Mekong is beautiful, and we were surrounded by greenery and sandy beaches along the way. In the morning we headed for Luang Prabang again in hopes that we would make it this time...and we did! Its really pretty here, and very chilled out. Yesterday we spent the day exploring the village and had dinner in a tree house. Today we headed for the water falls which was amazing. The four of us are off to Vang Vieng tomorrow morning which will be lots of fun! Hope you all had a terrific weekend!!