The journey to Luang Prabang

March 10, 2008 at 6:23 am (Laos) (, , , , , , )

I’d like you all to meet Jim:

jim.jpg

“Jim” the tangerine and I got very well acquainted with each other on our 6 hour bus ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang as I had him practically stuffed up my nose for the entire ride.

Unfortunately, I get incredibly car sick quite easily and lucky for me, the 6 hour bus ride we had today was loaded with fun-filled exciting twists and turns through the mountains of Laos. We went about 45 minutes before making a pit stop on the side of the road at a restaurant/food stand. Most of the passengers were wondering- why the heck are we stopping already, when we’ve got 5 more hours to go?

But oh what a lucky stop it was for me.

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Boop!

March 7, 2008 at 6:29 am (Laos) (, , , , , , )

Boop to all your faces from Laos :)

Hello hello everyone, once again please forgive the delay in posts. We were making our way through the Thai Islands (or at least 3 of them) and we’re currently in Vientiane, Laos and heading to Vang Vieng tomorrow morning.

Prior to coming to Laos we heard rave reviews about the country and I have to say, I must agree.  Thailand was great but there were so many tourists (just like us) everywhere especially in the islands. And while that’s all fine and dandy, it’s a bit umm, what’s the word- artificial at times. But Laos- there’s just a really laid back and chill vibe here and it’s very enamoring. The people are super friendly and the food has been pretty tasty (but we’ve come across good food everywhere we’ve gone, I’ll dedicate a post to food in the near future).

Today we went motor biking to the “Buddha Park” (and yes, it’s a park full of, Buddhas: reclining buddhas, headless buddhas, only the head of a buddha- but it was a giant head that you could walk around in, fighting buddhas, buddhas carrying dead bodies, buddha & his ladies, lady buddhas…this could go on for a while. but in the buddha park, there were a couple buddhist monks, surprise surprise. one named Keo happened to befriend us and invited us to his temple, but I digress) 24 km outside of the city. Motor bikes/ mopeds are a primary means of transportation in Southeast Asia. People do it everyday, all the time, no big deal.

But-

It was my first time driving one (on a previous trip to Vietnam with my mom I DESPERATELY wanted to ride around on a moped and my mom sent out the executive order to all my cousins forbidding me to drive a motor bike- and any accomplices of mine would experience the wrath of Teri Ha and trust me that’s a scary threat. So I didn’t get to drive. And for the record I was 21. Love ya Ted) and it was oh so much fun. Maybe not as fun for my passenger in the back (Will) especially when I was ripping through the potholes (some were puddles) on the dirt road and he kept screaming:

“Babe! Go AROUND the holes!”

But it was exhilarating for me anyways. I think we’re going to rent motor bikes in the next city we go to,  and who knows maybe on the next trip I’ll get to wheel my mom around town on a moped.

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