Laos + journey there

Well, haven't had time to get to a computer for a while but here it is.

Journey to Vientiane in Laos was pretty terrible. The road from Pai to Chiang Mai has something like 270 curves in it and our van driver refused to go under about 80 km/h the whole way, i.e. what should have been 20 km/h blind, hair-pin corners, passing in the oncoming lane, going 80. The driver even hit a post on the shoulder at one point. There was this hilarious loud Spanish girl who at one point shouted out "I don't wanna die!!!". Several people puked in cups, and fortunately I couldn't smell it otherwise I would have too. Mike was verrrry car sick the whole way. After Chiang Mai we took an overnight bus which turned out to be a cramped van that was impossible to sleep in. We arrived in Nong Khai at about 5:30 am and had to wait to take a tuk tuk to the border, from there took a bus across and got our visas, and then shared a taxi thing on the other side to town with a couple other girls we met along the way. We were somewhat insulted to find out that Canadians have to pay the most for a Lao visa - about $10-15 more than all other countries! Not sure what they have against us!

When we arrived in Vientiane, we found a guesthouse and immediately went to sleep for 2+hours. But we had to get our Vietnam visas, so we hunted down the embassy on bicycles and got one made for the next day. Vientiane wasn't that exciting...it was really dusty and at one point it got so windy we got whipped with dust in our eyes. There was a thunder storm that night, and that was pretty cool. We went to one temple that was alright. That was about all we did there.

Next day we caught a last minute bus to Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is a crazy tourist town surrounded by gorgeous, towering limestone mountains that is famous for its tube ride down the river. You rent tubes and float down the river, and all along the way there are bars blasting music, and huge rope swings and slides to go off of. It was definitely an experience, very surreal at first. Pretty fun though. I wouldn't do it for more than one day though. Sort of a backpacker right of passage though, so we had to do it. Next day caught a bus for Luang Prabang...and unfortunately now we are both sick (some food/drink in Vang Vieng? Maybe accidentally swallowed some river water? no idea). We haven't been able to go out/eat much since we've been in Luang Prabang, which is really a shame because it is beautiful. Today we had to check out of our guesthouse since we are catching an overnight bus to Huay Xai tonight to get to the Gibbon Experience, and they wouldn't let us stay in our room until then. Luckily we found this riverside restaurant with cool bamboo huts and comfy floor mats/pillows to lie on, so we just lay around there, attempting to eat/enjoying the amazing view for a few hours haha. The view of the river was absolutely gorgeous. The river is surrounded by very lush, green vegetation, palm trees and orange blossum trees. Would have been nice to explore it more, but we will be back in Luang Prabang after the Gibbon Experience so hopefully we'll get another chance.

Really enjoying Laos besides being sick. It is more lush and green and gorgeous than any other country I've been too, and the people are very laid back, polite and friendly. We've stayed in some amazing guest houses too for about $7 total, with cable TV, towels and fully functioning toilets with TP! Hopefully the sickness won't last long because our long awaited Gibbon experience starts on the 16th!