Lovely Laos! I'm in love with another country... This keeps happening. 

I closed the Thailand chapter (for now) with one last night in Chiang Mai, and dinner with Audrey, then a long van ride to the border city.

We stopped in Chiang Rai on the way, home to the strikingly beautiful White Temple. The entry to the temple has a short bridge over a pool of small sculptures of demonic hands and faces, then massive dragons on either side of the ramp to the temple, and then appears the beauty of the temple itself. The entire thing is white with small interlaid pieces of mirror, giving the temple an incredible simmering liveliness. 

We stopped for the night in Chiang Khong on the Laos border, then took a van to the immigration crossing in the morning. Got my Thailand visa stamped out, caught a bus over the river to the Laos side, waited in a poorly-planned immigration office, finally got my visa on arrival, then bought myself a nice cold Beerlao with a couple friends! Made it! 

We took a bus to the launchpoint for our slowboat, loaded up on snacks and then climbed aboard! 

The boat wasn't terribly crowded and I was able to float between tables with various people to my own reclining seat to the open back area. 

This was such a fun way to see the country, and the views throughout the day were stunning (along with the locals and boats and animals around every turn)

I was lucky enough to sit near these three—a Mexican, a Canadian, and a Korean—who were all excellent musicians! They just started jamming together and switching off instruments and talking about different styles of music... it was beautiful.

We arrived at our overnight stop, a little hillside town called Pak Beng, just at the sun was dipping behind the mountains.

I split a room with a cool woman from the UK to save some money (kip!). Had a delicious Indian feast with some friends from the boat, and some more Beerlao of course.

Went to bed only to be awoken around midnight by a screaming man outside, claiming that his girlfriend's cell phone had been stolen... The words "WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THIS FUCKING TOWN" were repeated along with some other horrible shit that probably woke up the entire town. Finally the girlfriend pipes in, but instead of calming him down just fuels the flame with sobbing and accusations and more f-bombs. At some point they shut up, and apparently tried to get the police involved the next day but never got the phone. A good lesson, both to keep an eye on my valuabes, and to NOT act like a disrespectful manchild if something doesn't go my way.

PHEW- anyways, by the time I was reunited with the river in the morning, I was all smiles. I snapped a shot of these travelers overlooking the Mekong in the morning haze.

As a group of us from the first boat approached the launch, we realized there were significanly less boats there than the previous day, and our was gone. Everyone was just packing into one boat, so we did the same and it was a much tighter squeeze than the day before. I had a window seat next to a sweet American girl, but this was the scene of the back of the boat..

Not too bad, at least some folks were getting some sleep throughout the 7 hour boat ride.

Had to take a picture of (part of) the exposed boat engine, constanly cranking away, for the Pops.

As we went south on the Mekong, we got more into the heart of Laos and watched the landscape become greener and huge limestone cliffs began shooting up left and right. I would have been more enthralled by the scenery had I not decided to start Gone Girl on my iPad at the beginning of the ride, HOLY PAGE TURNER... (yes I already finished it, killer read! 😉)

That afternoon we arrived in Luang Prabang, or 10km outside of Luang Prabang, a scam that I had read about a few days prior.  A while back the boat captains started ending the slowboat trips upriver so that the locals could make a quick buck taking all the tourists into the city... a little frustrating but forgivable.

LP is a cool little town (and World Heritage Site) that is nestled south of the river with plenty of things to to and see. I checked into a very inexpensive hostel with a few friends from the boat and we kept the Beerlao flowing. I also got to walk the beautiful night market which is about 5 blocks long in the heart of the town and opens every evening, with delicious food available all around. They have these buffet-style dinners where you pay about $1.75 and can load up a plate with your choice of foods from about 30 massive bowls of fresh cooked dishes. BOMB.

Thanks to Facebook, I was able to meet up with some friends from Pai! We went to a Belgium Bar for real beer for once, and then some local moonshine to cancel out whatever class we had aquired. I called it early so I could rest up for an adventure day!

In the morning I did a little yoga at the hostel, grabbed some food, and loaded up into a van for about 40 minutes taking us to the Kuang Si waterfall. I followed a path up a river that had all these mini waterfalls and swiming holes with the most mesmerising blue color.

After swimming and hiking up some more, I saw the big momma!

Possibly the largest and definitely the most beautiful waterfall I have seen in Asia... It had so many layers and seemed to never end, and the bright blue green color was just incredible. I noticed people sitting on a ledge about halfway up, so I was determined to head there next.

I hiked up this steep trail, dodged around a tree with a sign that said "DANGER: Do Not Enter" and came across this little oasis in the middle of the falls.

There was two layers of pools, and I climbed onto the higher one where I noticed a space behind water hitting the rocks. I swam through the water and found myself treading water behind the falls. There was even a small cave behind me that I swam into and hung out in! It was such an electrifying feeling to be IN a massive waterfall. 

I eventually swam back out, hung out on the ledge, gazed up at the falls for a while, then set off for the top. I crossed the river on some bamboo supports at the top of the waterfall and had the most incredible view across the entire valley.

From the top, there is a ~3km hike to a cave, and not knowing how far it was I began heading towards it. Luckily a local man driving some folks to the cave pulled up on the dirt road and offered me a ride, taking me to and from the cave which would have taken me another hour probably, if I even figured out the correct places to turn. SO grateful for his act of kindness.

This is the buddha outside the entrance to the cave, which snaked along for quite a while with low ceilings and cool air. I got to a point where I was short of breath from the lack of oxygen flow so I headed back out.

The driver was sitting at the picnic table with some other locals, and they invited me over for some snacks and Beerlao out of a cup cut from a plastic bottle! 

That night I went out for some food with friends then to a riverside bar with a volleyball court and lots of white people. It closes at 11:30 so everyone goes to a bowling alley afterwards because it's the only place still open in town haha

After a fun round of bowling, we hung out under the stars in the parking lot for a jam sesh, then caught a tuktuk back to the hostel.

On my last day in Luang Prabang, I went to a school where I met a Lao guy named Saylee about my age and we talked for a while. His english was amazing and he explained to me that he teaches at a local school every night. He told me that night they'd be playing english games and invited me to come and help teach! I was so excited and spent the day brainstorming games, even got some great suggestions from Facebook friends (kop jai!)

I spent the evening alternating teaching with Saylee and my friend Alexi who I met at my hostel. We did some reading and conversing and game-playing and the whole experience was so fun and eye-opening. These kids had been learning English for only about 3 months and they were already amazing at it, plus you could see their eagerness to learn it.

I have felt extremely spoiled throughout my travels having come from a place with Engligh as my first language. Every place I go, the people who live there work to try and speak my native language, and I can only offer up a butchered "hello" or "thank you"... It has made me extremely appreciative and motivated to learn more languages throughout my life.

The next morning I set off for Vang Vieng on one of the most beautiful bus rides I have ever experienced. The landscape in Laos is so unique and every turn presents another breathtaking view.

Saw one of these signs every minute or so though...

It was worth every turn, Vang Vieng is a beautiful town that sits in a valley along a river with magnificent cliffs shooting up all around 

I got settled into a hostel where I met my new friend Erin from Montreal. She and I have a lot in common and instantly clicked over our love of outdoor adventure and ice cream! We had dinner at a MEXICAN restaurant with some more friends, played some games, and rested up for a day of the infamous tubing adventure.

The main attraction to the town is tubing down the river and stopping at bars along the way to drink and play games. We got an early start, met friends along the way, got free drinks at each place, played volleyball, beer pong, ping pong, and had such a blast the whole day. Erin and I floated all the way back to town with our birthday boy buddy Patrick. At one point a little Lao kiddo sneaked up on us underwater and jumped up onto our tubes! He joined our little float brigade and we played and splashed around the whole rest of the way down haha he was so adorable and awesome.

The next day we had a rest day, watching Friends in a cafe because they have the show playing for the travelers all over town. On our last full day Erin, Patrick, and I rented mountain bikes and went on an adventure to a swimming hole and some caves.

It is so fun exploring the mountains of Laos because they are so beautiful and different than any I have ever experienced before.

The view on the hike down from the first cave-

Another, better lit, cave-

Above this cave was a practically vertical hike up to the top of a mountain, with incredible views of the valley and the surrounding cliffs and mountains!

So stoked to find some adventure buds halfway around the world!

After a final fun evening, the three of us caught a bus to the capital Vientiene in the morning. It was sort of a pit-stop before we went our separate ways. Stayed at a sweet hostel with A/C and a nice shower and the three of us had an amazing dinner of burgers and quesadillas and fries haha cravings were satisfied!

I am now in a town called Thakhet where I will be spending some time rock climbing! I have missed climbing so much and these mountains have just been calling to me, so I will be staying at this cool little climbers camp in the mountains for the next few days at least. There's no wifi there which I am actually looking forward to a lot. Updates to come afterwards! ❤️