Laos and stuff

Hey all so I made it into Laos. It only two two days of travelling by boat. My butt hurt SO much afterwards. The first day a whole pile of tourists were hoarded onto two boats (wooden benches) for the 6 hour journey to some random Lao village. We had been warned about the wooden benches so most of us had brought things to sit on, still uncomfortable though. It was beautiful regardless and relaxing. Reading, looking out at the scenery, talking. I met two girls from New Zealand, Rachael and Jess on the bus from Chiang Mai to the border who were also going to Luang Prabang. We talked on the bus, hung out the night before heading into Laos and are now sharing a room in Luang Prabang. The whole journey took 3 days!!! On a map it's not far at all, maybe 700kms - 3 days is really long for how far we all travelled.

The second day on the boat was worse than the first. The first day was like an adventure, we didn't know what to expect. We knew our bottoms would hurt, knew that the bathrooms would be scary, but it was still fun. The second day...

the second day the two boats we had been on had transformed into one. Not a bigger one, nope, the same size, just minus a boat. All of us had to fit onto it. So, when the previous day we had had a bench each to ourselves, we now had to share. The boat was a lot lower in the water and we were all generally crabbier, some people seemed pretty freaked out about it, but it was all good. Still an adventure, still glad I did it, makes for great stories...whatever.

I've found a way to put pictures on here, however I won't be doing that right now....tomorrow maybe. Everything's still pretty up in the air. Tomorrow the plans to go see a cave with a lot of buddas in it then visit a multi-tiered waterfall for a picnic. Throw in some white-water kayaking, bike riding, tubing down a river, and more shopping somewhere in the next few days and you've got the makings of a pretty good trip. I plan on being in Laos for a bit longer than I had previously thought. I love it here. It's so relaxed, so beautiful. I didn't know what to expect before coming to Laos. I'm so glad I did instead of going to southern Thailand. I can go to beaches any time and I will next year end of contract, but Laos, this is fantastic! I'll be in Cambodia by the 15th at the latest. I'll want to spend about a week there before heading into Vietnam. Time's flying by!!

Love you all, take care and be safe wherever you are.