Laos, local buses & limestone cliffs

SUNDAY, July 20:

We last left you in Vientiane, Laos where we were excited about exploring Laos for 6 days or so... After sleeping in a little, we packed up and headed to catch our 10am bus to Vang Vieng. Luckily, the bus was not full so we had the chance to spread out a bit (a luxury these days). Jennifer took pictures of all the fun villages we passed, and Chris feel asleep- both typical.

It is currently rainy season, so not only do we run into rain just about every day, but the roads are usually flooded or in awful condition. So as usual, we had to cross a few rivers along the way!

All part of the adventure! (Note: we have been saying that a lot in Laos).We arrived in Vang Vieng around 2:30pm, got a tuk tuk ride into town, and found our cheapest guesthouse yet (only $3)! We loved how chill the town was and sandwiched between limestone mountains it was quite the sight to see.

The town is known for its Nam Song River, which you can rent a tube and float down (in fact it is a must for southeast-Asia backpackers). However, since the rain was not letting up, the river was running too strong to tube. The good news is that all the bars & restaurants have these lounge booths, cheap food, and TV shows playing! Most places just keep FRIENDS running non-stop, but we switched it up after a few episodes and watched Prison Break a while too. Jennifer ate banana pancakes and Chris ate noodle soup- typical again.

After rotating TV bars, meeting some fun backpackers, and booking kayaking for tomorrow we headed to bed before too late.

MONDAY, July 21:
We rode in the bed of a truck with 7 other travelers up the Nam Song River to a drop point about 20 km up stream. We had debated whether to kayak or not, since the river current was so strong, but decided to brave it. We definitely made a good decision- it was such a beautiful river surrounded by limestone mountains. We quickly strapped on our life jackets and boarded our kayak. Before we knew it we reached our first stretch of rough water, only a couple minutes down stream!

The first rapids almost dumped us, but after that it was all smooth paddling. We stopped after a little ways to trek through Snail Cave... And by trek, I mean walk waist deep in water through a cave for about 20 minutes... and since it was dark, they gave us "head lamps"... aka a small car battery attached to a headband with a light bulb. We felt really safe while walking through water! Then we went to Elephant Cave, and then had a delicious lunch alongside the river before heading further downstream. We both now love whitewater kayaking, especially when the scenery is so breathtaking. Along the way, we stopped once more at one of the many riverside bars where they had a huge swing that you could hold on to and fly across the whole river! Jennifer of course took the opportunity to fling herself into another body of water. Then we kept kayaking along the river back into Vang Vieng. We could not take pictures through the best parts since we had to paddle and all, but just take our word for it! We met new American friends: Christi from Kentucky and a couple from Chicago- first Americans we met really since China. We meet them for dinner at a riverside restaurant after resting up and then had a fun time out in the town with Christi and Irish friends we met the night before...
TUESDAY, July 22:
Our bus left Vang Vieng at 9am for Luang Prabang (a city further north in Laos). The 6 1/2 hour trip was beautiful! The road snaked through the mountains- very picturesque. The bus arrived by 3:30pm and dropped us off just far enough outside of town that we had to hire a tuk tuk to take us to a guesthouse (we have learned they do this in most cities). We arrived in town and searched for a guesthouse on a street overlooking the nearby Mekong River. Just 5 minutes of walking around and we already loved this city. It was almost exactly the opposite as Vang Vieng-- swapping gorgeous scenery for a gorgeous city. In Luang Prabang the old French influence was so refreshing- it seemed as though we were in Europe. Even our backpacking-budget guesthouse had vaulted ceilings with dark wood trimmings, wooden post beds, and a thick wooden door with antique handle. In order to soak up the essence of our room, we decided to rest up from the winding bus trip and we took a short nap before heading back into town for dinner and a look at the night market. We had NO idea that Luang Prabang was going to be an amazing shopping town! We walked through the market on our way to get dinner at our favorite western restaurant of Laos, Joma, and spent 2 hours just browsing the market. It was so overwhelming, filled with all sort of quality handmade crafts and souvenirs. We scouted out a bunch of stuff, but saved the buying for tomorrow. We loved how all the vendors had matching red tents, each with a single light bulb hanging down, causing the whole market street to glow. Then we finally made it to Joma for a dinner of fresh salads (first in 6 weeks!) and we met an American girl, Mary. We stayed at Joma until they closed down around us and then Mary joined us as we headed to a cafe, where we stayed as late as we could (which in Luang Prabang was hardly past 11pm).

WEDNESDAY, July 23: We left the hotel by 9am with a mission to find bus tickets to Chiang Mai for tomorrow. We walked around town a bit and Chris had noodle soup for breakfast.

Jennifer stuck with Joma and treated herself to another western meal- yum! Then we finally found a travel company that was offering a good deal on bus tickets for tomorrow, which would take us all the way into Thailand-. We would be taking a northern route through Laos and then head West into Thailand to reach our next destination, Chiang Mai. We considered flying, but we decided that the scenic roads are part of the whole experience, so we opted for the bus (foreshadowing: not such a big fan of "scenic roads" anymore). Next, we decided to take the afternoon to visit the Tad Sae Waterfall. We hired a tuk tuk to take us 30 minutes through the mountains to the river, where we were squeezed on this tiny little boat which took us up the river about 10 minutes... the boat felt like it was going to tip the entire time, and we were both told to sit on one little piece of wood, yikes! We realized the ride was worth it though as we laid eyes on the gorgeous waterfall. We had never seen anything like it- so unique with layer after layer of smooth, rounded falls. Pictures don't even do it justice.

Since it was overcast/raining, there were hardly any other tourists there. Jennifer made a couple friends swimming around the falls, and of course had to find the highest point to jump off...We enjoying the waterfall for a while, and then followed the bamboo boardwalk up along the river a ways. These pictures can't even begin to show how far the falls just keep going on and on. After exploring a while, we took the boat and tuk tuk back into town where we climbed up to the top of a temple in the center of the town. From the top, we could overlook everything around us! We walked around the hill for a while, through various temples and wats where monks were wandering amongst us. That evening, we headed into town for a traditional Lao meal of "Luang Prabang Stew" which was filled with chicken, eggplant, beans, peas, bamboo, and unique seasonings. It was so delicious. Then, we finally got to shop in the market we scoped out last night! We had such fun bargaining through the whole thing for a couple hours. We really got into the whole swing of things and got some great deals... needless to say, we finally added another bag to our collection, expanding beyond our packs! Then we rested in a cafe with coffee shakes a while before heading to sleep.

THURSDAY, July 24:
We woke up around 6:30am and rolled out of bed in hopes to see the monks wandering town like we had heard- but after realizing they get up even earlier than that, Chris headed back to sleep. Jennifer wandered town in search of early morning sights... she found a fun local street market where all kinds of food was being sold.Mostly live animals (fish, crabs, chickens...) and tons of fruits and vegetables. Many fun sights to be seen, then we met back up at 8am when we met the tour we had booked to visit the Pak Ou Caves. After waiting sufficiently long enough we were put in a group and taken on a 2-hour boat up the Mekong River through gorgeous cliffs and mountains. We finally stopped alongside this massive limestone cliff...We got off the boat and climbed inside the caves on the side of the cliff to find thousands of Buddha statues. Locals started putting statues there centuries ago and they now filled the caves. Another cave we visited was pitch-black with just as many statues inside. Outside the children all around tried to sell us little caged up birds! Then we headed downstream back to town where we visited the largest temple in town, split a yummy Indian lunch, packed up and then left at 4pm for what turned out to be the longest travel-day yet...We sure were going to miss Laos though. Above is a perfect representation of the relaxed atmosphere here. The tuk tuk drivers would just fall asleep all over (better than harassing you for a ride like they did in Vietnam!).

A tuk tuk picked us up from the guesthouse at 4pm and took us to the bus station where we watched our bags being hoisted to the roof of the old local bus (our home for the next SEVENTEEN hours).

We were told the trip to the Thailand border would take about 13 hours, and we've already handled over 7 overnight bus trips so we figured it would be a piece of cake... well, we were wrong. We were supposed to depart by 5pm, but off to a bad start we pulled out of the station by 6:15pm. The bus held 45 people comfortably, but as we drove along the road for the first 30 minutes, we stopped every 5 minutes to pick up even more locals. Before we knew it, all the seats were filled and they were putting little plastic stools all up and down the aisle for more locals to squeeze in. There were at least 10 people sitting in the aisles and at time 10 more people standing in the very front. Chris managed to sleep against the window for the bulk of this trip so Jennifer will continue telling her adventures of the longest bus ever.
The trip started with local music blasting from the speakers. At first it was these girl pop singers with karaoke words at the bottom- they even had the English letters to pronounce the Lao words! The old Lao man next to me pointed to the screen and said "It’s better with beer." haha. With the plastic stool in the aisle, my neighbor constantly was changing as locals got on and off the bus. First, it was a young girl, then a guy who fell asleep on my shoulder, and then a family of 4 on just 2 stools. The best parts though happened well into the journey...

FRIDAY, July 25:
As the wee hours of the night rolled around, the bus ride got interesting. Every 15 minutes of travel we had through the mountains, another 15 minutes was spent stuck in the mud. With dark roads, sheer cliffs and rainy season it made for awful driving conditions, especially in our us bogged down with twice as many people as it should hold. The worst time we were stuck for about 30 minutes- long enough for some of us to get off the bus and walk around. The best part was seen the locals in action. Every time we were stuck, they would pile off the bus, grab the huge pieces of wood from the cargo hold, and wedge the wood underneath the tires to free us from the mud. Teamwork at its finest- they were pros! After finally breaking free from the huge ditch, we all hopped back on board. Having the locals covered in mud really helped the smell on board. My favorite part though, was after the mud problems when the guys in the aisle were finally able to fall asleep... at the time there was a guy slightly in front of me and a guy slightly behind me. The former would fall asleep sitting upright so that his head would roll as he passed out, in perfect proximity for his hair to sweep my face. The latter would lean forward to sleep on my headrest and more times than not he would just sleep on my head. Don't worry; I took a picture in attempt to capture the moment.
There were even more tales from that incredible bus journey, but to save time we will continue with the day... We FINALLY arrived at the border at 11:15am where we had hopes of jumping on the next bus to Chiang Mai where we could officially rest in just five more hours. However, the company that told us that buses run every hour apparently had not checked the buses in a while. The bus company informed us that since we missed the 10:30am bus we would have to wait until 6:30pm for the next one. Jennifer was not feeling so well after the bus ride and had a pretty bad fever, so we finally argued to get some of our money back, crossed the border on our own, and met back up with some fellow backpackers from the local bus. We jumped on a 1pm bus to Chiang Rai, and then spent from 3-5:30pm there until we finally caught a bus to Chiang Mai. We enjoyed Chiang Rai though and even got to explore a bit, see the local markets and eat some much-deserved ice cream :)THIRTY hours after leaving our guesthouse in Luang Prabang, we arrived at a hotel in Chiang Mai! We had just enough energy left to find some pad thai dinner at a street vendor and then crash at our hotel.
SATURDAY, July 26:
We slept the latest we have ever slept, 10am! Jennifer has been sick though so it was necessary. We booked train tickets to Chumphon, Thailand for tomorrow and then decided to see some temples and book a cooking class for tonight. We headed out into the city after some local thai food for lunch.

We walked towards Wat Phra Singh, one of the biggest temples in town, but along the way there were temples lining the streets- it's amazing how many there are, each so gorgeous.It was cool to see the Burmese influence with lion rock sculptures in front of Wat Phra Singh. Buddhist 'words of wisdom' were posted through out the grounds. To escape the rain we each took cover in separate buildings, and Jennifer even met a Lao monk. It was a beautiful temple to visit. Then we headed back towards the hotel where we were picked up at 4pm for our Thai cooking class! "The Best Thai Cookery School," took us to a local market where the chef taught us about all the local herbs, spices, and vegetables. It was so great to finally learn about the spices we had tasted for the past couple of weeks. Then at the school we each made Thai soup, stir-fry vegetables, panang curry chicken, pad thai, and sweet sticky rice with mango! Seriously more food than we have eaten in all of Asia. Basically, all we have done today is sleep and eat... this is more like vacation; love it!
We learned a lot, and cannot wait to cook more back home- get ready moms!
Then we were dropped off at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar where we shopped quite a bit more. The markets were huge, and we wandered for hours, picking up a few new additions to our load. We love the local markets! Then we found an internet cafe where we both hooked up our skype and finally got a good chat with our families :)

SUNDAY, July 27:
Planning on leaving the hotel around 8am, but woke a little late, and then as we checked out the front desk asked if we wanted our meal ticket for today... which they never told us when we checked in that it was included! So we stayed to eat our free breakfast, of course,

and then jumped on a tuk tuk to the bus station and got a bus to the Elephant Conservation Center. Jennifer's big goal of Asia has been to ride an elephant... Chris' big goal of Asia is to avoid being stomped on by an elephant (as seen on world's craziest videos in Chicago). We are happy to report both goals were met! We arrived just in time to see the elephant show, where the elephants painted pictures! They also played music on xylophones! The center was nice; included in the complex was an elephant hospital and a nursery, so we were able to visit the baby elephants. Jennifer bought some sugarcane and hand-fed them; it was so much fun! Then, of course, we decided to take a 30-minute elephant ride through the jungle... we hopped in the wooden 'saddle' and went on quite a ride. We walked around a while, enjoying all the various elephants, then went back out to the highway where we flagged down the local bus (we are getting good at this whole thing!)... And rode back to the city. We then bargained for a tuk tuk back to the hotel, where we were jammed, yet again, into a tight space with the locals. After complaining about our lack of free breakfast yesterday, we got free lunch of yellow chicken curry! Yay! haha, and then headed to the train station where we caught our overnight train to Bangkok... never been so happy to have a train!We have now arrived back in Bangkok where we are waiting for our next train in just one hour to Chumphon, and then off to the eastern islands of Thailand. Thanks for reading! We cannot believe that we have been away from home for almost 7 weeks, and that we have less than two to go! Very bitter sweet :)