Wow,
It has been a while since I have added a story. From Nepal our journey took us to Southeast Asia. We flew via Royal Nepal, an airline that is notorious for cancellations and mishaps. Leaving Nepal is difficult because there seem to be 2 international carriers that fly to Bangkok. Apparently, the stars were aligned the day we flew because we somehow ended up in first class, we were the first to enter and exit the plane, and the plane took off and landed with no delays!!
In Bangkok, we decided to plan for the second leg of the trip. This was to include a visit to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Kelly's friend, Aalop, was to fly in from the states for 10 days so we needed to plan accordingly. Our friend, John, is still traveling with us and has decided to join in visit to Angkor.
Angkor and Cambodia are amazing. I wanted to spend longer in the country but we had booked a ticket to Laos earlier. Sometime in my life, I will revisit Cambodia and provide goodwill services to the kids and community. It is a special place.
Luang Prabang....what! Where is this? Well, it was by John's persuasion that we visited this lovely city in Northern Laos. I can say this is own of my favorite places. Imagine a town surrounded by the waters of the Mekong, orange draped Monks who live in monestaries, beautiful tapestries, great food, and french colonial architecture....Wow!!
I decided to linger for a few extra days. Kelly and Aalop flew to do trekking in Northern Thailand. John decided to go home to Guatamala after a long 3 months of travel. My extra days were amazing. I took a trip to bath, play and feed baby elephants all by myself. I couln't believe it...no other tourists...only me!! Truly, a bonding moment with creatures who I have not spent much time with. The next day, I took a cooking class....we spent the morning in the market learning about the various vegetation used in the preparation of Laos cuisine. Then we spent the day preparing fresh spring rolls, steamed chicken in banana leaf, sweetened mango rice, lemongrass chicken and papaya salad. I Love cooking!!!
From here, I decided to travel back through Laos to a place called Van Vieng. Still traveling alone but making friends along the way. I made it to Van Vieng but it was a bit of a luggage scare. When boarding the mini bus, somehow my backpack was placed on the wrong car!! So I arrive to the destination after a long curvy 6 hours on the road to find out I had no stuff! I had to beg the driver to take me to the intersection where all the other cars would pass. We flagged down every car with backpacks. After the 5th, I could not believe it but we found my yellow bag...sooo lucky.
Van Vieng was a place that I needed to get to bc after 2 months we had not taken any real restbreaks believe it our not. This town is sleepy with hammocks sprawled along the Mekong. I slept in a hut, had great fruit shakes, went tubing, finished-God of Small Things, chatted with some new friends, and just chilled out....aahhh so great!
The following day I took a never ending bus ride to Si Phon Don. Where is this? It is on the bottom of Laos. It is where the Mekong spreads out like a fan where water channels are intertwined with land. Getting here was not easy. Our bus broke down every 3 hours. At one point it was the middle of the night so I offered my headlamp so they could fix the bus. The bus problem actually never got resolved. The next day they took us off the bus...luggage and all. If you have ever seen the first episode of the show- Lost. Well, we were like the passengers all sprawled out with luggage except we were not on a beach but the side of the highway. It is kind of strange but when traveling with Kelly nothing seemed to go wrong...everything seemed to go our way but since parting for 2 weeks...lots of things have gone wrong. I later found out..it was the same for her with mishaps...hmmm...
Si Phon Don- probably the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my life. Yes, I have also come to realize I love sunsets not sunrises. Kelly loves sunrises...I don't. I refuse to wake up at 4 in the morning to go see sightseeing sunrises!!! I'm sorry Kelly Chew...I'm sleeping in!!!! :) LOL.
