Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng

We're in Vang Vieng! And it took some adventuring to get here for sure. We got to the Laos border town and got on a slow boat no problem, and met up with a really cool little group who we're now traveling with until Hanoi. There are three girls from New Zealand, two German guys, and a couple from England. We're all on the same page travel-wise, which makes everything easier and cheaper.

After we got on the slow boat it was a different story. We skipped the chance to sit on one of the wooden benches available and opted for the roomier floor at the front of the boat. We had all our pillows ready and settled in with books and ipods. After about an hour of clear skies and beautiful Mekong river views, we suddenly stopped in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Eventually we found out (by way of sign language and deductive reasoning) that our boat had broken and were waiting for another one to take us the rest of the seven hours. After another hour, a significantly smaller boat showed up right along side of us, and there was a mad rush for seats. John and I waited too long and missed out on the seats. We ended up hugging our knees on the floor of the boat between two rows of people. Not fun. Not fun at all. We kept up a pretty positive attitude, I must say though. I wanted to complain so badly but there was just no one to be mad at. We were definitely excited to pull into the dock that night, and sleep in our glorified tent of a hotel room.

The second day was much better. We left at nine in the morning with about a third of the amount of people from the previous day. We all got nice spots (on the floor but with the ability to spread out a bit) and rode the rest of the eight hours to Luang Prabang. This day was really cold though, and we all spent the time trying to somehow make our pant legs and sleeves longer.
Luang Prabang was, yet again, incredible. The French had settled there at some point in history, leaving behind little French-like markets and cafes, and lots of baguettes. We had a great day walking around the town, watching the orange-robed monks everywhere, and visiting temples along the Mekong River.

Today we made the six hour minibus ride to Vang Vieng, where we are now. The scenery is breathtaking. Nothing but enormous jutting mountains everywhere, and really interesting villages along the road, and pigs and chickens and ducks constantly. We're all staying in these little bungalows by the river, and it's only costing us 30,000 kip (about three us dollars). We're planning on going tubing tomorrow, which is kind of the main thing you do here, besides explore caves. Might leave tomorrow for Vientiane, just three hours away by bus. Laos is amazing. We're loving it.