Been out of "blogging" commission for about a week now with all of our travel days and lacking the access to a computer. I could probably sit here and write a novel describing each day. To spare you from too many boring details I'll give you a quick play-by-play from our final work day and our first week of travel. . .
-Showered with presents, hugs, and long goodbyes on the last day of school. My last class of the day making hearts with their arms. Yes, I cried.
-Celebrated our last night in Lampang. Next morning was a struggle but we managed to get ourselves to Chiang Mai. Georgie, J and I added a couple other teachers to our traveling crew (Bridgette and Lea) and said goodbye to the others, making promises to keep in touch and if we're ever in Ireland, Phillipines, New Zealand, New York and so on, that we will definitely look them up. Thanks to "facebook updates" I'll know when they're eating breakfast or walking the dog.
-Headed out of Chiang Mai Monday morning on a 7 hour bus trip to Chiang Khong. Stayed the night along the river in a cute guesthouse owned by a sweet couple who helped us sort out our visas for Laos. Packed lunch included.
-Crossed the border into Laos Tuesday morning. Set out on our 2-day slow boat journey along the Mekong River. Hard wooden benches weren't the most comfortable things to sit on for 8 hours straight. However, the scenery was incredible and our complete states of delerium kept us entertained.
Here's the good 'ol slow boat. And no I'm not kidding.
-Stayed the night in a village called Pak Beng in between our 2 days of sailing. Electricity in the village shuts off at 10:30. Thought I knew what 'pitch black' looked like until I spent the night somewhere where there is absolutely no light. My love of scary movies was not appreciated on this night. Took to the sea again in the morning for another loooooong day on the slow boat.
Day 2. Hour 6.
-Finally made it to Luang Probang, Laos. Treated ourselves to an amazing Laotian curry and celebrated being on land.
-Headed out early the next morning for an all day hiking/kayaking trip. Highlights: seeing a snake that a guy just caught in his trap; the amazing views of mountains, farms, rolling hills; our guide deciding we should take a shortcut . . .which consisted of him leading us through uncharted territory by beating down the bushes/grass with a bamboo stick; walking through a village with 411 people in it (we met the 411th one . . .cute little baby boy); swam in a 7-tiered waterfall; kayaked past water buffalo. . .pretty amazing day. (Unfortunately my pics of this day are on a camera card that I don't have with me at the moment)
-Explored town the next day. Got massages for Jbo's Birthday!!!!! Found a wine bar and celebrated her big 2-5!!! HAPPY BDAY JBO!!!!
-Woke up at 5am the next day to watch the monks line up and receive offerings from everyone along the street. Pretty amazing site. And a gorgeous morning too.
-Headed south to Vang Viang. Estimated arrival time: 2pm Actual arrival time: 6:30pm. Forced to make a 2 hour stop for a bike race. And by bike race I mean in the span of 2 hours we watched mabye 10 bikers ride by while we sat on the side of the highway. Our driver thought it'd be appropriate to blast some Eagles for us while we wait "Take 'er eeeeeeeeasy". . . so at least we had that going for us. . .I guess.
-Spent our first full day in Vang Viang floating down the river on intertubes. SO much fun. People at the bars/restaurants throw a rope out to you and pull you up if you decide to head out of the water for a bit. Probably one of the craziest scenes I've witnessed.
-Next day went on a hike to the Blue Lagoon and Poukham Caves. Again, thought I knew what "pitch black" meant until our guide told us to turn off our flashlights at our farthest point into the cave and I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face.
-Said goodbye to Lea this morning. She headed farther south into Laos while the rest of us are heading to Vietnam this afternoon on a 24 hour bus ride!! AHHH!
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