After spending about 24 hours on buses (minus a 30 minute layover in Bangkok), we made it all the way from southern Thailand to Vientiene, the capital of Laos, two days ago. After a decent night’s sleep in Vientiene, we decided to keep going for four more hours to Vang Vieng, a little river town farther north into Laos. It had been raining steadily since we got into Laos, so we thought maybe we’d find better weather there.
No luck! We haven’t seen the sky yet in Laos. From what we can see through the rain, Vang Vieng is a beautiful place. There are huge limestone mountain outcroppings that are just barely visible on the other side of the town’s river. Normally, the many tourists spend their time here tubing down the river and exploring nearby caves, which would be amazing. Unfortunately, the river is super swollen so that tubing would be ridiculously unsafe, and we weren’t allowed to cross the bridge to get to the caves on the other side. Instead, we spent our day today wandering the streets of this little town, watching “Family Guy” episodes at a nearby restaurant, relaxing with a Lao beer on our deck overlooking the river, and surfing Facebook. So, kind of a bust, but hey, we’re relaxing in Laos, so life can’t be too bad!
We’ll cross our fingers for better weather tomorrow. Either way, we’ll probably head back to Vientiene by Tuesday (hopefully with a clear day or two to explore that city) and from there over into Cambodia via Bangkok.
I’m not Annabelle, but I concur with Annabelle: you have wonderful beach bods. Keep up the good work! I’m enjoying the blogs and the pictures. Welcome to scuba diving! I’m thrilled you enjoy it. I’m looking forward to a joint trip.
Your video for my retirement service was wonderful. You were so creative. I still cannot get over the number of people from your community who wished me happy retirement. The only change I would make in the video is Alex’s last comment. Actually, I look more like Brad Pitt. I am looking forward to fishing with you next month, Alex!
Have a fun last couple weeks of your journey. Keep us posted and blogged!
Love,
Papa G.
Have sure enjoyed reading the saga of your travels over there, and your photos do an incredible job of conveying the settings as well as your reactions to each new adventure! The only part we don’t really see is how tired and uncomfortable you probably are a lot of the time–but then that would stress us out, so keep smiling! Hope you are doing well this week and having more fun and memorable experiences.
Lots of love,
Mom “McTree”