Laos: Journey Down the Mekong

SATURDAY:

Day one on the Mekong

I finally made it across the Lao border and now I'm on the slow boat making my way to Luang Prabang, a two day journey (as opposed to the fast boat which only takes a day but is notoriously sketchy) down the Mekong river. It's been pure lush tropical jungle the whole way with a few small villages dotting the hills along the way.  We'll stop tonight and spend the night at some village along the river an then embark again bright and early tomorrow morning.
I'm sitting next to this guy from England who has been traveling Southeast Asia for the past 15 months. I don't know his name but we've been having lots of fun just chatting it up. He's been showing me all his pictures from his travels and it makes me so SO excited to go visit some of the places he's been. I feel like the adventurous person inside me (who has been a little bit tired lately) has been re-awoken and is ready to go. I was just going to make a quick trip up to Luang Prabang and then head back to Bangkok but he's been telling me all these cool stories about stuff he's done in Laos and it's made me re-evaluate my plans. I think from Luang Prabang I'll head further down south stopping at a few places along the way until I make it to the capital. From there I can just take a bus directly back to Bangkok.
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I'm in our hostel now. The boat ride was pretty awesome and actually passed by super quick. The town where we are staying is nestled in the hills just off the river. So beautiful!! It's only one street a few blocks long and it's one of those towns you know wouldn't exist if it weren't for the tourists. We got some Yummy Indian food for dinner. MMM I could never get enough Indian food. I've been surprised to find that Laos is actually more expensive than Thailand. Accomodations have been about the same but food is about twice as expensive. Still super cheap by American standards but expensive after living in Thailand for 3 months. _________________________________________________________________________


SUNDAY

Day two on the Mekong

Today has passed by rather uneventfully. Howard and I (the kid from England) have been hanging out since yesterday so it's good to have a friend to hang out with and talk to. I would have to say that the highlight of the day has been seeing two elephants being carried down the river on a small barge. I tried to get a picture of it but they were in the opposite side of the boat and by the time I noticed them and got out my seat to take a picture the moment had passed. I wish I could describe to you how beautiful it is here. The only thing that could make it more perfect were if I weren't sitting right behind two chain smokers--eck, I'll never understand how smoking could be appealing. Oh yeah I also saw a dead bloated pig floating down the river, that was pretty cool. I thought there would be more fisherman out here with their nets but I haven't seen a single one the whole trip. I think by now we should be within a couple hours of Luang Prabang. I'm curious to see what awaits me. Whatever it us I'm sure it's going to be awesome!!!

Whenever the boat stopped in one of the small villages the children would come and try and sell beer to the boat passengers. 

Small town where we spent the first night of our journey

I'm worried my leg might be infected. I've been cleaning it with rubbing alcohol every day and trying to keep it wrapped with guaze but it still looks pretty nasty. Please don't scar!!!

My friend Howard from England

Still think it's infected.