I decided I needed a break from Thailand, if you can believe it. My friends from California, Lindsey and Lauren, who I met up with during Songkran had ventured over the border into Laos a few days earlier and I would make an attempted to catch up with them. With no Laos sim card its very hard to meet up with people without a phone only a string of e-mails would lead me eventually to find them. My first day in Laos was a long one ending with a 15 hour bus ride to Luang Prabang. I crossed the border by a very small long tail boat from Chang Kong through the Mekong river to a town in Laos where there was nothing. It was a spur of the moment decision to go to Laos so I had no plan and didn't really know where I was in correlation to where I wanted to be (probably not the smartest especially since I was by myself at this point). I knew I could figure it out though. After getting my Laos visa, all the exchange places were closed so I didn't have any money . I thought I'd be really screwed. I spotted two white people so I went over to talk to them and it turns out they were on there way to the same place I was, yah! I brought a bus ticket from a tour company, which I usually try to avoid due to scams and them charging more but I wasn't really in a position to be picky. They also except Thai Baht in Laos! This is also the point where I found out it was a 15 hour bus ride...oh well here we go. We waited about an hour longer since the bus didn't leave till 5 and it was the only bus running for the day, I was so happy to get a ticket. My new friends and I head to the bus station and that's when all the drama begins. The tour companies had over sold the amount of tickets. I quickly ran on the bus and staked out my seat along with my friends vowing not to move from our spots. The last and unluckiest people arrived to find no seats on the bus. You can imagine they were not happy! It wasn't the fault of the ladies running the bus but the tour companies. The bus attendant brought out child-sized plastic chairs and set them in the aisle of the bus. Everybody thought, You got to be crazy! There is no way I'm sitting in one of those for a 15 hour bus ride. With them running out of options and a lot of yelling going on, the rest of us clenching onto our seats. The 4 poor french people had to settle with laying on the top floor of the bus dashboard. THe bus finally departed around 6:30pm. The bus ride was a horrible 15 hour ride through the twisty mountains and bumpy poorly paved roads. Those were my first few hours in Laos that left me a little scared and unsure about leaving my save familiar haven of Thailand. By the end of my tour of Laos I was undoubtedly glad to had made the journey and turned out to be well worth it!
Luang Prabang
Since Laos was a former colony of France it has a very french atmosphere to it which caught me off guard being in southeast Asia. One of the most noticeable is the food. Western types of foods are easily found in Laos including the very popular French Baguette which is hard to find in Thailand. Getting into the town around 10am I was exhausted from the bus ride and decided to take a leisurely bike ride around the town to get myself acquainted visiting the famous temple and museum. A difference that I had to quickly get use to was the type of currency, Kip. About 8,500 kip is equal to $1 which turns out to be an annoying conversion and I got confused by all the zeros on the bills that look the same. This is the first time I felt like a tourist traveling. In Thailand I knew the language and mainly think in baht over dollars. Oh wellll. The next day I happened to run into 2 other worldteach volunteers, Sarah and Jay, what are the chances! Since my California friends did the waterfalls the day before Sarah, Jay and I went on a quick trip to see the famous falls. They are gorgeous, being the most vibrant color teal that a picture can hardly capture.
Vang Vieng
This town is famous for its Tubbing party scene down the river. It took a 6 hour windy bus ride to get there from Luang Prabang in a crammed pack mini-van that I can say I'm glad I will probably never have to do again. The town had a college frat boy feel to it with everybody walking around in their "Tubbing in the Vang Vieng" t-shirts, all the restaurant had friends or family guy playing outfitted with lounging couches to cure hangovers. In the pictures below you can see the river outfitted with bars that you stop off at to grab and drink then continue your way down. To help attract people to their bar they have zip-lines, jumping platforms, and slides that are all free. These were run by 10 year old boys and have absolutely no safety regulations. At least a few people die every year on this river due to drinking too much or hitting rocks on the way down. We witnessed almost 2 deaths in our 5 day stay in Vang Vieng.
The last place I went to was Vientiane the capital of Laos. It is just a small city similar to the Isan city I live near in Nakhon Phanom province. I only stayed a day there and got some souviner shopping done is there sprawling night market. After a nice 10 day stay in Laos, I hopped back over the border into Thailand and waited the next 5 days for my parents to fly into Bangkok. While I waited I stayed on the island of Koh Si Chang, a very small thai vacation spot only 2 1/2 hours away from Bangkok.
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