Greetings everybody!! After leaving luang probang a few days ago we book a 14 hour bus ride (very dusty, very bumpy, and extremely long) to Houay Xai The bus driver said we were behind schedule so we only made three 5 minute stops--not a hold lotta time to grab some grub. Finally we arrived about 9pm and crashed out until the next morning to continue our journey. We woke up early to take a quick boat ride (literally right across the Mekong River)into Chiang Kong...back into Thailand! We grabbed a bite to eat--Aaron was very happy to be eating thai food again (he was getting sick of Pho and Laap--and took a 4 hour ride to Chiang Rai (our current location). Chaing Rai is a cute mini city located in northern Thailand. There are not many backpackers here, so it feels more like we're living with the locals!! We're staying at an awesome guesthouse called the Garden Guesthouse, which looks like a combination of nature and hippiness. Lots of random artifacts hanging around, a small cubby for reading, artwork and hammocks all over the place. each room even has a hammock inside it! very exciting! And to top it all off there is a gigantic lizard (about a foot long)with a stubby tail that lives in the shared outside bathroom which hides behind the art piece (in the bathroom) when the lights are turned out. REALLY FReaKed me out the first time! Unfortuantly, we couldn't bring Orlam with us on our continued journey, so the lizard and other interesting animals (cats with chopped off tails, purple dogs, street dogs wearing t-shirts) will have to suffice. :) The night market here is pretty neat, live music every night. There is one stage which plays traditional music and dance, while the other one is more rock 'n roll. Last night we heard a thai band covering simon and garfunkel songs!! The food at the market is pretty good---i've been eating lots of indian and lebenese food and we actually found bubble tea! I was so excited (bubble = tapioca ball). Our gueshouse is actually right next to one of the high schools so there are tons of pushcart food people all over the place to cater to the kids, selling sausages and fruit shakes. the used book stores are pretty big here as well, and contain lots of great literature for cheap prices ( you can also trade in books). Anyways, tomorrow we leave for Chiang Mai, which I'm extremely excited about because we might be staying in a Buddhist Monastery for a night or 2 and the night market is supposed to be awesome! Hope everyone is well!! thanks for all the great birthday wishes!!
