After a long layaover in Kuala Lumpur airport (I've become quite familiar with it) I finally made my way to Vientiane, the capitol of Laos. Laos is a poor, land-locked country found between Thailand, Veitnam and Cambodia to the south. I only spent one night in Vientiane after finding it to be quite sleepy with not much to do or see. I stayed in a hostel with 20 beds per room and 2 bathrooms for 48 backpackers plus staff. I was NOT keen on repeating that experience! So I boarded a bus to Vang Vieng the very next day. I had heard horror stories about Vang Vieng, with all the drunk tourists tubing down the river and causing a ruckus. In fact 11 westerners were reported drowned from January- October 2012, when the government finally shut down the operation. What I found was a rather sedate town, albeit still overran by Aussies and Europeans. So I spent Christmas by myself in the middle of Laos with not a single Chirstmas tree or carol to be found. There wasn't even a church in town! Just a couple Buddhist temples. SoI got to enjoy Christmas vicariously through all my facebook friend' posts. I spent Christmas day riding around the countryside, checking out local caves and waterfalls.
After a few days, I decided to head to Luang Prabang, an ancient and storied town 6 hours north. The bus ride was not fun. Much of the road was dirt and/or rock. We crawled along at an average of 20 mph, swerving to miss the errant cattle, pigs or kids walking in the road. And the ride was much too bumpy to sleep, besides being crowded together like sardines! We became VERY close with our neighbors!
