Sabadee from Laos

So far Laos has been nothing but charming. Rolling hills filled with jungle life, beautiful, nice people, great food.
The river trip itself was not too bad. The first day we made friends and made a little party boat. That night we stayed in a village in the middle of nowhere where all the electricity turned off at 10pm. The next day on the boat (another 7 hours) had lost its charm but went by quickly with a good book. After arriving in Lauong Prabong (that's not quite the right spelling but whatever...) we found a great guest house for 20,000 kip each (that is about 2.50$) and took HOT SHOWERS!! The second day we were back on the Me Kong river but just for about an hour, we were taken to some caves that had been transformed into a type of worship temple by the locals at least a thousand years ago. After that we headed to some water falls and chilled off for the rest of the day. When we got back to our room we realized that the room next to us had some sort of water leak and a puddle of water had formed in from of our room. We were used to stuff like that happening and for the rest of our stay there hopped over the puddle in and out of our door.
The city had been inhabited by French Colonials however long ago so still had signs of their influence. Baguettes were everywhere as well as banana flambe. Although very unexpected in Laos it was a nice treat.
This morning (Friday ) we hopped on another 6 hours bus ride to Vang Vien where we will go tubing down the Mekong. The ride here was so beautiful. We passed through rolling hills and were it seemed that every time I feel asleep I was woken up by our horn honking at a cow, chicken, buffalo thing, goat, or small child to get out of the way. We passed through some very small villages and got a peek at rural life.
Sunday will be a big day as I have to get to the border crossing at Vientien and then take a night train to Bangkok. Monday morning I have to submit my visa application for India and wont get it till Friday but that is OK because Jamie and I (and another friend who is meeting us from home) are going to spend the time in a small town outside Bangkok. And then the following Monday I fly to India. I can't believe how fast this trip is going. But at the same time I feel it has been years since I left. I'll upload pictures once I can find a goddamn computer that can...