Yay. The internet actually works here :)
Sorry I haven't been writing much lately, but internet in Laos was really slow and annoying.
Since I last posted...
Vang Vieng was just as Stephen described - I think he'd love the place. Some people we talked to had been there for a month or more and I reckon he'd be happy doing that. The tubing was awesome - floating down the river is a great way to stay cool and you stop every 25-50m to go to a bar. I didn't drink and nor did most of our group (ok, I was given a small glass of beer for being brave enough to jump off a very high flying fox into the river) but we had a lot of fun with the "games" (flying foxes and swings). The next day we hired bikes and rode out to a cave and lagoon. It was a pretty long ride but the lagoon was awesome and very much worth it. The cave was good too but since it was late and we didn't have a guide we didn't go too far inside. It was silly enough climbing the near vertical rocks and mud to get to the entrance in the rain, we didn't need to get lost inside as well.
Next we went to Luang Prabang and did some shopping at the markets and other such things. I went on a tuk tuk ride out to see some small villages and saw how they make knives and other metal things, lao lao (horrible tasting, really strong alcoholic drink made from rice), silk weaving and other such things. We also climbed up to the temple on the hill to watch the sun set but it was cloudy so it was a bit disappointing.
We then went on the 2 day boat ride to Huay Xai, which turned out not to be anywhere near as bad as we expected because we got a private boat with comfy seats - yay for tour groups! :) We spent most of the time either sleeping or playing cards and our group leader taught me how to make crochet anklets with bells on.
I then left the group and went on the Gibbon Experience which was excellent. I'm still tired and sore, but it was worth it. The flying foxes basically link the ridges so that you don't have to walk down into the valleys and back up so they're pretty long and high. The tree houses were good, but the food was awful (pretty poor sticky rice and salty mushy vegetables). On the way back we got fried rice at a small restaurant type place on the side of the highway - I've never seen a table of people eat it so fast! We didn't see any gibbons but we did hear them and saw some brown monkeys. I don't know what type of monkeys because all the guide could tell us was "big monkeys!" (his English went little further than "left", "right, and "you zip now"). Yesterday morning on our way out we got up early and it was still foggy. It was rather pretty, but unfortunately the fog meant that the brakes don't work on the "zip lines" so I ran into the tree at the end twice. The first time the roller bounced back and hit me between the eyes so I have a bruise (but you can't see it luckily) and a sore head. The day before I was too busy trying to video a zip and hit a small bush/tree/bamboo thing (who knows? I wasn't looking) and scratched and bruised my leg. It hurt a bit, but I got an amusing video out of it :)
I'm now in Chiang Mai and it's Thai New Year so everywhere I go I get splashed with water (which is nice because it's bloody hot). I go to the Elephant place tomorrow and then fly to Bangkok the day after.
