I have found Paradise in Laos

Sorry to lazy to edit.. have fun reading it

Laos is a different world, especially compared to the craziness of Bangkok. From the moment I stepped onto the train to Nagn Ki (spelling?) (12hrs north of Bangkok) I have felt like i am really somewhere else.

Crazy drunk English man in his 60s slept on the bunk above mine, he talked and talking and even spilt beer on me. The only way to get him to shut up was to put in ear plugs...hehhe

As we were getting off the train we met up with a Brazilian guy that shared a tuk tuk to the thai border... then a jam packed bus to the Laos side. None of us have visa, so it was a 1-2 hour process to cross the border. There were 8 travellers in line and they are all awesome people that had no idea what was going on either. A french teacher, the brazilian doc, 2 ppl from Japan, an american, the crazy british, and a very outgoing english women. We all ended up staying together for a couple days. We all bonded over a trip to get massages near a monk school. I met lots of monks my age that spoke suprisingly good english. They were amazed my my piercing and tatto, just as i was amazed by their lifestyle. It was a rewarding experience, i can't describe it. I learn about laos culture, their religion and ur lives. They are same same, but difference. ( the sauna was good... i didn't get the massage b/c i spent too much time talking to monks)

Vientienne was a quite town, with no nighlife which suited me just fine. I have been awake every morning by 6:30-7. The light wakes me up. I definitly don't waste the day any.

Dude the first hotel we stayed at in the capital was a 3 star hotel with an elevator, compy beds, and a real bathroom for 23$ (split between 3). Its funny b/c we downsized to a guesthouse for $5 (split between 3) and spend most of the days budget on fancy meals.

The sites were simple, but still very cool. A monk in one of the places practiced his english by depicting the Buddist stories. I helped him with his english hw too. :P

Things are simple here, and not busy busy. I am loving it.

Vang Vieng was a backpacker town 3 hours north on very very windy roads. We took an overpacked local bus (dave had a guy sitting on his lap for a while. I just had a guy sitting on my pack in the center) A monk had to tell us to get off, or we would have ended up somewhere else. Did I mention that monks are very friendly and speak good english. I feel safe with monks around.

The town didn't look like much b/c all u see at first in a couple houses and a large cement "airstripe". An army looking guy saw us looking very confused so he further directed us. Laos ppl are friendly and open ppl.

Vang Vieng's economy is sticky rice and tourism. Every house is a business, there are more restuarants then tourists it seems. Most of the restuarants are raised booths with lots of pillows and a television playing american movies or FRIENDS. It was a strange site to see 20-30 ppl all starring at a tv watching friends.

Beautiful country side, and mountains like I have never seen. Here we tubed down Nam Song (song river) and drank BEERLAO and jumped off rope swings. Totally amazing... meet a bunch of ppl from england.

One day we rented bikes and explored this one cave with 2 little kids as our guides. The cave paths kept getting smaller and smaller the further we went, at one point we had to lay flat and wiggle through. I was a litte scared that we would never make it out alive. After nearly getting stuck in the caves with BIG spiders we biked through 2 more villages and end up at a Bright BLUE lagoon. It was like nothing i have ever seen before, the color was amazing. Plus there was another cave, but biggers. I climbed in the cave for over an hour.

Biking allowed us too see the people of Laos, not just the tourists. There were animals, naked childerns running around, ppl farming.

The last day there... we took a tour of 2 more caves ( including cave tubing), swam, kayaked 17 km, jumped off more rope swings. FUN, but my arms are very soar. Meet 2 swedish girls on the tour and ended up having dinner with them afterwards. It was a random night that end with Jazz and Dave and an irish guy drinking SPECIAL tea (opium tea). Restuarants here have special menu... u can have mushroom or wee fruit shakes, or opium tea. Don't worry... no special food for me. I just drink lots of BEERLAO

Good times.

Today was a LONG day. Jazz and dave locked there key in their room about 15mins before we were supposed to get on the bus to Luang Prabang and the guesthouse didn't have another key. One of the worker ppl jumped out my rooms window on to the very slippery metal roof and gimmied the window open.

Lucky the bus left late. :P Laos is a slow paced place.

8hours lated I arrived in Luang Prabang

That was a long one.... I was too busy to find an internat cafe. sorry my bad

I miss everyone lots