I spent one more lazy day in Luang Prabang relaxing, shopping, and seeing a
traditional Lao “ballet” show. (The ballet was a traditional dance show,
which was quite interesting. There was a big orchestra and the performers
wear really beautiful clothes and interesting masks.)

Then it was time for my slow boat down the Mekong River. Luang Prabang is
in the middle of the mountains and there are no roads that go south-west
towards the border, so your only options are slow boat, speed boat (which is
supposed to be really dangerous), or flying. I decided to do the 2 day boat
ride. I had heard mixed reviews on the boat trip. Some people said it was
horrible, others just thought it was long and uncomfortable, but I hadn’t
met 1 person who really liked the slow boat.

Well, it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. There weren’t too many people on
my boat so we each got our own little bench (even though it was a very
uncomfortable bench, just a few pieces of wood screwed together). The main
positive thing was that the route was very beautiful. Lush jungle and
mountains except in the places were people had done slash and burn farming.
I also met an interesting guy on the boat. He was a volcanologist
travelling around the world for 2 1/2 years working on volcanoes. It was
nice to have someone to chat with, because after sitting on the boat for 12
hours a day with no food available, I could feel myself going crazy!

After what felt like a week on the boat, I made it to the border, but
unfortuantely the border was closed. So I had to stay in the border town
and then had another full day of travelling to get to Chaing Mai in
Thailand. First it was a short boat ride, then the craziest border crossing
I’ve ever seen. Obviously Lao people have never heard of lines before. It
was seriously a wrestiling, pushing, shoving match to get to the immigration
window. There were about 50 people fighting to get the stamp, and the
border officals weren’t even looking to see if the passport matched up with
the person. They were just stamping everything. Crazy! Next I had a tuk
tuk ride, then a bus ride to Chaing Rai. Followed by another bus ride to
Chaing Mai, and another tuk tuk ride to get to a guesthouse.

I was so tired after all of the travelling I didn’t really do anything on my
1 night in Chaing Mai, except have dinner at a fabulous vegeterain/vegan
place. The even had a vegan soy passion fruit frozen yogurt. (I know it
sounds gross, but it was amazing! Especially since I hadn’t really had
anything sweet for 2 weeks!)

I had one more day of travel before I finally was able to chill out and
settle at my detox /fasting retreat. It wasn’t too bad. I was able to take
a van instead of the bus, so those windy mountain roads were a bit easier to
handle!

I had a long windy bus journey from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang, but the scenary was stunning so it was actually a really nice ride.  My first evening in Luang Prabang, I checked into a guesthouse and then immediatedly headed out to see the night market.  The market was fabulous!  There are so many beautiful things that are all hand made, and super cheap!  It is a shoppers paradise.  (Too bad Jenny and Stacy weren’t there.)  I ended up browsing through the night market each evening, and always came back to the guesthouse with at least 1-2 bags full of goodies.  (Now my backpack is really heavy!) 

I had signed myself up to do a Mahout Experience for 2 days.  (Mahout means elephant trainer.)  So I set off early the next morning for the elephant camp.  The first thing on the itineray was a elephant ride, where you sit on a bench that is tied to the top of the elephant.  I’ve done quite a few rides like this, so it wasn’t too exciting but the scenary was great.  Then we had some lunch and I changed into my Mahout clothes (really baggy blue pants and an asian style blue top with a straw hat), and had my first elephant training.  The guide taught us how to say about 10 words in the Mahouts language (left, right, go, stop etc.). 

Then it was time for my first ride sitting on the elephants neck.  A real mahout was always on the elephant with me, which was a reassuring.  But my mahout only spoke Lao and French, so it was a bit tricky trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing.  Actually getting onto the elephant is alot harder than it looks.  The elephant sqautted down to the ground, but he was still as tall as me, so it was really hard to climb on.  Plus the elphant didn’t want to stay down long, so you had to be quick jumping on.  Sitting on its neck was an amazing experience!  There skin is very thick and they have a bunch of really tough bristly hairs on their head.  Walking down hill was the scariest part, because it felt like at any moment you would go flying over the elephants head. It was really fun though, and I was so glad that I had signed up for the longer option.

We ended up going on about 3 or 4 rides sitting on the elephants necks.  My legs were killing me on the second day!  You “direct” the elephant by squeezing it with your legs (sort of like a horse) to start and then are supposed to squeeze it on the side you want it to turn.  The only problem with this is that the elephant doesn’t seem to feel you squeezing it, so you have to use all of your muscles to squeeze as hard as possible, but in the end it is an Elephant.  They pretty much do whatever they want.  My elephant always seemed to be hungry, so we were always wandering off of the path searching for bamboo for her to eat.

The best part of the Mahout Experience was the bath time!  We went out to the jungle to collect the elephants in the morning, and then walked with them for about 30 minutes down to the river.  They walked right in and sort of squatted down into the water with us still on their backs.  We splashed some water on them and tried to clean off some of the dirt.  (They were always throwing dirt onto their back to try to get rid of the pesky horse flies.)  My elephant was splashing around.  Flapping her ears in the water and playing with her trunks too.  It was such an amazing time. 

After bath time, we walked the elephants back to camp and said goodbye.  Then we had a full day of trekking, visiting a local village, and trekking again to go swim in a waterfall.  It was extremely hot while we were trekking, so when we finally made it to the waterfall the freezing cold water was fantastic.  I finally made it back to Luang Prabang at about 5:00pm and then went for a nice Lao style massage. 

I took a public bus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng, and it was much better than I had imagined it would be.  (Not too crowded or hot, yeah!)  I found a nice clean and cheap guesthouse to stay in and then pretty much just hung out for the rest of the day.  Vang Vieng is a strange place.  It’s basically a backpackers oasis in the middle of no where.  You hardly see any local people (that aren’t working a travel offices, cafes, or bars).  And every cafe-guesthouse in town is showing back to back episodes of Friends (or some have The Simpsons or Family Guy).  After not really watching much tv for 7 months, it seems very strange.  Vang Vieng sort of sucks you in and makes you really lazy. 

The second day I decided to get away from the tv shows, so I signed up for an all day trip kayaking, tubing, caving, and jumping.  There were about 12 other people in my group.  We drove about 20 kms north of town and the guides gave us a 2 minute demonstration on how to kayak.  Then we got in the kayaks and went about 100 meters before getting out to go explore the caves.  (Very bizarre, to do only about 30 seconds of kayaking before stopping, but this is Asia and things are never logical.) 

The first cave (Elephant Cave) was pretty boring.  It was just a small cave with some tacky cement statutes inside, but the second cave was amazing!  The 2nd cave was a water cave, so we jumped on some tubes and set off across a small river to explore it.  The opening of the cave was so small I really didn’t think we would be abe to get inside.  It was very dark and a bit creepy, but also really cool.  We pushed ourselves off of the cave walls and made our way around the watery maze.  When we were going back I realized that the roof of the cave was covered in tons of little white “hairs” that were hanging down around our heads the whole time.  After we left the cave I asked the guide what they were, and he told me they were spiders webs. Yuck! 

We had kababs for lunch and then made our way back to the river to continue our kayaking trip.  I was partnered up with one of the guides, so I thought it would be a nice relaxing ride for me.  But unfortunately after about 10 minutes of paddling, he saw that one of the couples on the trip had no idea how to kayak and were constantly running into the banks of the river and every possible rock.  So he made me switch and be partners with the girl, which was quite annoying because she hardly paddled and when she did she had no idea what she was doing, so we’d go off course.   We went about 17 kilometers and went thorugh a few rapids so I got a great arm workout!

Near town there are a bunch of bars lined up on the banks of the river.  Most of them have rope swings that you can do.  We stopped at a bar that had a 30+ foot high platform and trapisez tye swing.  The water at the bottom of the platform was only about 5 feet deep.  Too dangerous for me!  But it was entertaining watching the people go off, especially the locals who put on a show for us, flipping, hanging by their feet etc. 

After we finished kayaking, we went back to town.  And I got sucked into one of the cafes and watched more tv shows and a movie.  I decided I’d have to move on the next day, before I turned into a lazy couch potatoe.

 After spending a few relaxing days at Jenn’s apartment in Bangkok, I set off for Laos. I decided to spoil myself and fly up to the border town, Udon Thani, instead of taking the bus for 12+ hours. (The flight was only about $5 more, so it was definetly worth it!) Getting into Lao was really easy, and I was able to buy buy visa at the border, so no advanced planning needed. I checked into the cheapest place in town, and am staying in a dorm. (I always like to save money on accomadations and then spend it all on massages!) The dorm is actually pretty decent. There are only two bunk beds, and the other girls staying there are all Japanese.

I didn’t get settled in until about 4:00, so my first day in Vientiane was pretty much spent just having a fabulous massage (for $2.50, I already love this country) and then eating a great Indian curry. (In 10 days I’m doing that detox/cleansing retreat, so I have to do a vegan diet for the 2 weeks before hand. No meat, eggs, or dairy, plus no flour, or sugar! It’s a bit tough, but there is so much good fruit and veggies here, that it’s not too bad.)

My second day in Vientiane (the capital of Laos) I went sightseeing. I went to the Lao National Museum, which was pretty interesting. Whoever designed the museum must have hated America though. 1/2 of the museum was dedicated to prehistoric times- 1960, and then the rest was basically devoted to “Imperial America”. After the museum, I wandered around for a bit and stumbled upon the Morning Market. I hadn’t really planned on shopping, but they had such cheap dvds that I had to buy a bunch. (Only $1 per dvd!) Then I went to see Patuxai. Walking up to this massive arch, I totally felt like I had been transported to France and the Arch De Truimphe. It was bizarrely out of place in Vientiane! (Laos was a French coloney in the past, and you can defiently tell it. I’ve heard quite a few people speaking French, they have a “mock” Arch De Truimphe, and on every street corner there are people selling baguettes and pate.)

Next I went to Pha That Luang, which is a golden stuppa/temple that is said to contain a piece of Buddha’s collarbone. (Am I lucky or what, first I got to see 8 of Buddha’s hairs in Myanmar, and now a piece of his collarbone!) To be honest, I’m getting really sick of looking at Buddhist temples, and stuppas, and statutes.

There was one place in Vientiane I was dying to go to, Wat Sok Pa Luang. Not to talk to the monks, or look at Buddhist statutes, but to have a steambath and a massage. Next door to the Wat (which is basically a Buddhist church) they have a traditional herbal steam room and do fantastic massages. I put on my sarong a went into the steam room, and it was lovely! It was a very old fashion building, and looked like a Lao farmhouse. The steamroom was basically just a small wooden closet with a few benches inside. To make the steam they have pots with real fires burning in them and then bowls of water and herbs on top. The proper way of doing the steam was to go in 4 times, for about 10 minutes per time. In between steams, you drink a cup of tea, and take a “shower” (splash yourself with a bucket of water in the front yard, or spray yourself with the graden hose) and then go back for another steam. In the steam room most of the people were rubbing salt all over themselves, which is a great exfoliator. After I finished with my steam I had a fanatastic massage. (A whole afternoon of pampering myself for only $4!)

I am leaving Vientiane tomorrow morning, so I might try to see a traditional dance show tonight. But it’s pouring rain right now, so we’ll see what happens. (Gotta love the rainy season!) Tomorrow I’m off to Vang Vieng