SABAIDEE

Sabaidee (hello in Laotian). We've been in Vang Vieng Laos for 3 days now and i acually think i've died and gone to heaven! I wish i could post pictures for you to see! Dustin friend Steve was trying to explain to me how great Laos is but its imporssible to explain... i'll try anyhow!

We arrived in Vang Vieng on the public bus from Vientiane and we were the only foreigners on board. This made me very happy because i felt like one of the locals and it also felt nice not to be so pampered on a v.i.p. bus with the rest of the travellers. Julie sat further toward the back because those were all the available seats and she napped ( i have started the 'Julie napping' photos to create a seperate album) however the man next to her kept talking and i guess he smelt really bad and was all sweaty! The woman next to me on the bus was so cute. She couldn't speak English but she kept staring at me. I looked at her and instead of turning away because she had been caught she just kept staring. ahahha then she offered me fruit and i offered her a citrus mentos! We bonded over the fruti deliciousness for the 4 hour ride. Ofcourse we stopped along the way in the middle of nowhere at which point i was a little bit nervous but then half of the bus go out a skwated along the side of the road... hahah even the woman in their dresses PEE BREAK! i decided to hold it! The man next to Julie asked if she needed to get by and she decided to hold it aswell! ahha (one of the pictures above is julie having one of her naps on the bus! She's the one with the super cool shades looking all bad).

We finally arrived to Vang Vieng's bus depo/ side of the road and as the guys were trhowing down our packs we looked around and thought... uh is this it? It looked a little rough. However i walked over to some english girls to double check were all the action was. They pointed us in the right direction and told us where to stay. As we walked through the crazy humid heat with our 30 pound packs we desperately wanted showers. Finally we arrived at Pan's hostel and found a room for $7 a night with hot showers! SCORE! After some unp[acking and cleanish clothes we headed out to explore. Vang Vieng is great but its not oo authentic, its definately backpacker heaven. You could get stuck here for weeks. The town is really little and is surounded on one side by gorgeous lush mountains. The Mekong river runs through the town (we'll get back to the Mekong later!) We found a restaurant that was blasting Jack Johnson's latest album so i thought it was definately cause for my first Beer Lao... mmm cold! All of the restaurants have platforms made of bamboo with pillows and coffee tables so you pretty much take off your shoes and hop up! Also, in the town you take off your shoes before entering a store or hotel or restaurant which keeps things clean and its cool to see a huge pile of flip flops at the door! Wow i have so much to say... For dinner we chose one of the 3 or 4 bars with the loungy platforms that play constant episodes of 'Friends'... we've often gotten stuck laughing for three episodes before remembering we're in Laos! Its a nice break from the sun though.
At night we've been frequenting SMILE BAR! its accross the river and is too great to explain.. bon fires, hammoks, drinks in buckets and lots of friendly backpackers! WE met two great guys named Blaise and Daryl from Australia and U.K. they had been teaching diving in Thailand for the past 7 months or so and were taking a 'Vacation'. They're great, i even dropped the boyfriend bomb (as in "my boyfriend...") and it didn't seem to phase them, thats how i know they're good to hang out with! They had also been in Vang Vieng for a couple days and went tubing that day therefore we met up to go tubing with them the next day.

OKAY!!! TUBING!!! SO SO SO AWESOME! i know what you're thinking how much better can it get well here it goes... so for tubing you put just enough moeny in your pockets and leave your shoes at home.. walk down to the tubing office, sign your life away and hop in a Tuk Tuk which brings you to the Mekong and then you float back stopping at the many bars and crazy huge trapeze swings along the way. The first day we went with Blaze and Daryl it took us from 12:00 until 8:00 because we hung out for so long and swang so much (Julie and i went back today and took it a little easier!). We helped one of the bars get more people to swim over their way by swinging around and calling over. SHOUT OUT TO SPIDER BAR!!!! Anyhow, the swings are really high up (the highset about 10 meters, yes dustin you have to figure that our in feet). For some reason i wans't too nervous because its just so much fun. So you have to climb up a later made of baboo to a platform at which point a guy hands you a bar to hold on to and then gravity does the rest...Julie only did one and i didn't hwant to pressure her into the others because she was having fun wathcing us be crazy. Today a couple guys were too nervous to go so i showed them how it was done and then they were imbarrased a girl went so they had to go.. and loved it! Mom i'm glad you couldn't see me swinging because you would've freaked out!
Anyway.. on to Luang Probang tomrrow which everyone says is beautiful but i can't imagine it getting too much cooler...

I'm Looking forward to telling you more about it.... wow that was long... and i left out a lot of details! Julie took some great pictures today.. i'll try posting them once i find a quicker internet connection. The others from Vientiane wouldn't work either.. I'm starting to really miss you family and friends..really i am, thanks again for the comments!