Laos or Lao as they call it here

After we left the very simple guest house we went through Lao immigration. It wasn't too bad except that it was the first time I had to carry my bags for a long period of time, That bag is heavier than it looks people. When we finally got to Lao we boarded a long boat/houseboat that we cruised on for the next two days.It was absolutely amazing and relaxing. We all read our books and played cards and hung out in the sunshine. The scenery was spectacular. When the fog lifted over the mekong you kinda felt like you were in Platoon or Apocolypse nows without the war of course. The first day we stopped off in a tiny village on the shore and played with some kids..very cute and authentic. We then made our way to a town, I can't remember the name, and spent the night in a very cute guest house. We went for Indian, but my stomache was still bothering me so I decided to just eat bread and rice. BORING!! The next day we cruised again and had an even better day. We stopped off the the cave of a 1000 buddhas were people from all over the world bring their buddhas to worship. We also stopped off in a whiskey village where they showed us how they make Lao Lao and Whiskey, The smelled turned my stomach a bit lol. The village also has a lot of weavers ands artisans so we went around the market and I was able to buy a few nice little things.

That day we finally made it to Luang Prabang. This has been my FAVORITE place so far. It's a great backpacker town filled with great restaurants and an amazing night market with all sorts of crafts and goodies. We did a day trip to the waterfalls which were so beautiful and I spent one day doing an elephant safari....SO FUN I got to ride on the elephants neck and stear him around. My thighs and ass were killing me the next day because I guess I was clinching on for dear life. We then had a lovely lunch overlooking the river. Our hotel is amazing but there was only one minor drawback...the temple next door was having a 3 day festival and blaring music and noise from the loudspeaker 24/7 and when I say music think of the sound of wailing dying cats...yup that's what it sounded like. I ended up buying so much stuff at the market that I had a to ship a little box home to myself. It cost just as much to ship it as it did to buy all the stuff...but it's some pretty special stuff!! My appetite is back too which is great, but I am still being pretty careful about what i eat.

Now it's off to Vang Vienne (I probably spelled that wrong) 6 hours drive through the winding mountains. Thank god for my motion sick band....best purchase ever!!! The scenery was absolutely beautiful throughout hte drive. It is always interesting to see people in the small villages and how they live. Kind of reminds you that the "stuff" is not so important. On the otherhand, I really like my stuff and will continue to buy more as I travel. I also miss TV. I know that's lame, but I on;y have ssen BBC so I don't really know what's going on in the world. On a bright note, this town that we are in now is known for it's bars that play Friends and the Simpsons round the clock, so I will get a little TV in tonight. LOL

We are here for two nights and then on to Vientienne and then Vietnam...

Hope you are all doing great...more later