We were in search of a new hotel this morning. We are nearing the end of our trip and we realized we are a little lower on funds than we thought. Oh this was totally scary! When I went to shower there was a massive spider up in the corner. I let out a little squeal, and made Kyle stand and watch the spider while I showered in case it decided to more near me. Later one of the housekeepers came up to our room with a long feather duster and killed the spider. Kyle left to find something cheaper while I finished getting ready and packed up our stuff. I checked out and waited for him in the lobby.
The new hotel was clear across town, and it was raining, and I was hungry! This place was only $12 USD compared to $20. It was just as clean and had air-con. After we got settled into the new place we had some lunch. We had decided today to get caught up on our blogs (it didn’t work!) So we had a small Laos lunch and Thomas showed up. He joined us, and since he is a computer science major he offered to take a look at the laptop to see if he could get it working a little better. The Wi-Fi stopped working two days before the trip, and most programs and ports only work in safe mode. He was able to do a few things and now we can use the computer in regular mode, but still no Wi-Fi. We wasted time at the restaurant, and then went to an internet place to upload some more stories and photos. Kyle and I also needed to decide when we were moving on and where exactly we were going. We decided to take a 9 hour bus ride (local bus, no ac, and there could be farm animals and large bags of rice in the aisle) to Luang Nam Tha. We booked a kayaking trip with Green Discovery. Both Kyle and I were a little nervous since the river was very high and they said there was level 3 rapids and we had only kayaked twice before this.
We parted ways with Thomas he was going to a traditional Laos dance and music performance and we didn’t want to spend the money on it since we were running low. We ended up walking up over two hundred stairs that were hidden beneath trees and thick with mosquitoes. A temple sat at the top of this hill. We mainly went up to see the view. When we finally got to the top you could purchase these little bamboo cages that had two little birds in them, and then you would set them free. We didn’t do this; we just took a few photos and walked around. Kyle was feeling pretty down about our money situation, so he wasn’t much fun.
When we got to the bottom we had to walk back to our hotel to get the name so the tuk-tuk would know where to pick us up in the morning to take us to the bus station. This was included in our ticket price. Then we walked all the way back to town to buy the bus ticket and find some dinner. We sat out on the patio incase Thomas was looking for us but he never turned up. Kyle had a pizza and was still a little on edge over the whole money thing. We are never both worried at the same time; it is usually just me, or just him. I guess that works out well so we both aren’t just depressed together!
Dinner was ok; Kyle had trouble getting them to actually bring him a drink. He had a pizza and I had a Laos stir-fry with a papaya salad. After dinner we spent the next two hours bargaining and haggling at the market. We ended up with tons of bags and stuff; we were wondering how we would pack it all up. But we got a lot of really fun things that will be great in our house, plus a few presents for people back home! Then it was off to bed. We have a long day on the bus ahead of us!
