LAOS!!!

♫

A short plane ride from Hanoi landed us in Vientiane, Laos. We arrived as it was getting into the evening and finding accommodation turned out to be more of a hastle than we had anticipated. Coming from Vietnam hotels seemed a lot more expensive in Laos. After about an hour of trekking around with our huge backpacks we finally found a guy, probably working on commission to take us to his friends hotel. We were so tired and glad to finally have a hotel. After we thought we were settled, Shanna looked for her camera, and realized it was lost along with her cell phone the day before. (Basically we had spent 3 hours at 4am in Hanoi looking around the train station for the cell phone, only to find that the camera was also missing the next day in Laos...not a happy day!) Then as Shanna is panicking looking for her things Brittany leans back and her entire mattress is soaked. Long story short....it was a really horrible day and I think we ended up switching rooms like 3 times!

The next day came with some better news....we found a restaurant in Vientiane that was like having a piece of home! We hadn't had fresh deli sandwiches since we left home, not even in New Zealand and Australia. Most of the time they're just pre-made, pre-packaged and old with 2 slices of white bread and a sliver of meat or egg (boring!)! This place was like Corner Bakery! You order at the counter and then in minutes they bring you out an amazing sandwich on fresh baked bread, a little salad and even give you a glass of ice with your drink! We basically thought we had died and gone to heaven! It sounds so silly but its funny the things you realized you've missed being away from home!

Later that day we went to see a temple that was lined with hundreds of Buddha statues. They were literally everywhere and the center building housed the biggest of them all. It was pretty cool to see! The colors in the outside courtyard had been preserved and were bright white, gold, red, blue etc. Basically every few feet in this city you could run into another temple. After we were just kind of aimlessly walking around and found a very Mexico looking cafe on the river. We sat there for a little while with a beer in one hand and fruit shake in the other enjoying the day. Once the flies became more than we could handle we decided it was time for a massage!!! For about $7 we got a half an hour foot massage and an hour full body Lao massage! It was amazing...too bad we can't get massages at least once a week at home!!!

The next morning we headed out on a bus ride for Vang Vieng. Basically, this town is designed for one thing only....tubing! By tubing we mean bar hopping down the Mekong river stopping at small makeshift bars along the way to drink buckets, and zip line down each of the different swinging contraptions each bar has. We spent the first afternoon cruising around the town with other newcomers gathering our gear for the next day. Items necessary: really touristy tank tops that every single person wears that says "Vang Vieng In the Tube", waterproof bag, and cheap sandals you are guaranteed to loose. That night we reunited with some girls we had met on the Kiwi bus in New Zealand and made our way to what are called the island bars. At around midnight all of the bars right in town close and if you know someone you can find your way through an ally way, over a rickety old bridge, to the "bucket bar", "smile bar", etc. Great night! The next morning we woke up, met up with the rest of our group from the night before, and headed to the Mekong where we would start tubing. We decided we didn't want to be bound to the deposit of the tube so we just swam down the river instead (so much for calling it tubing!) The first bar we got to we all grabbed beers and sat on the ledge watching all the brave contestants climb up about 20 ft, grab on to a rope contraption and leap into the water. Most people were successful however, a few did a nice 10-15ft back flop...probably pretty painful! From there we hopped into the murky Mekong water and swam to the second bar. There we were greeted with some Lao wiskey shots and actually braved the rope swinging device. This one was more like a zip line and looked more manageable. You climb up (not nearly as high as the first bar) and then we could both go on the zip line at the same time. We each grabbed on to one side of the handle bars and stepped off the platform. The guy specifically instructed us to make sure we held on until the end, so of course we did what we were told.....big mistake! At the end, the zip line hits something to make it stop and basically your arms get ripped out of the socket and we land on our backs. It was probably quite a landing because the bartender gave us both free shots for "style" when we swam back to the bar. Good thing it wasn't as high as the first one....we were both cracking up trying to swim back! From there it was more of the same at the next bar just different swinging contraptions. It was a great day, we met a lot of other backpackers and enjoyed watching others fly off the rope swings!! Everyone needs to experience tubing in this town!!!

Two days later (we missed the bus the day before due to a hangover) we headed to Luang Prabang. Good news for us...the deli from Vientiane was also here so it was first thing on our agenda! The next day we booked a trip to the nearby waterfalls. You can walk up and see multiple levels and different pools of waterfalls. The water was a really pretty pale blue color and the surrounding area was absolutely beautiful! We spend the afternoon exploring and swimming in the pools. That night we went to a bar that had a not so good cover band dressed up in 70's attire! It was pretty entertaining and after making friends with some other backpackers we decided to go bowling at midnight after the bar closed. The bowling ally is the only place that stays open late so it becomes a pretty popular place! You can order all the large Lao beers you want, popcorn, and bowl the night away! It was sooooo fun and such an unexpected night...who knew bowling could be so great!

Off to Bangkok with an early morning flight and then down to the islands for the FULL MOON PARTY!