So I'm in Laos now as you can tell by the title. Left Thailand on Friday after a bus ride to Chiang Khong (the border) and spending the night there. I just bought a package deal from Chiang Mai to Luang NamTha just to make it easier. So this package included a night at a guesthouse that I swear was run by a ladyboy. Now I got used to seeing them in Chiang Mai and Bangkok - they pretty much attack all the guys. It's sort of a game actually - try to figure out if it's a man or a woman! But in a small town like Chiang Khong? Seemed a bit out of place.

So anyway after I crossed the border, got my temperature checked for SARS (yippee! still home free in that arena) and made it to the bus terminal to head to Luang NamTha. This bus ride was definitely an experience. All dirt roads going through the mountains on what really seemed like one-lane roads. A very long ride - about 8 hours - stopping every hour or so by the side of the road so everyone could go into the bushes and pee. By the end of the trip I was a bit sore from bouncing up 3-4 feet every time we went over a bump (I was sitting in the last seat). But it was definitely fun to see the locals using the bus - they actually put a king-sized mattress on the roof! Along with the chickens, ducks, 50lb bags of rice, etc... And getting stopped at the province borders so they can search for opium and various other drugs. Never had my passport checked so often!

Got into Luang NamTha and ended up hooking up with a couple other girls and we all got a room together at one of the many guesthouses ($3 total for all 3!). Since there was a curfew (and power shutdown) at about 10pm we just grabbed some dinner and collapsed. The next day... Saturday... we rented some pretty crappy bicycles and rode around - tried to find the "beautiful waterfalls" nearby which weren't really what I'd call a waterfall... It was pretty much water going from the man-made canal down to the river. But we did find a village and ended up playing with the kids from the village. That was a lot of fun - most of those kids acted like they had never seen a white person before!

Yesterday I got back on a bus and headed down to Luang Prabang (I'm starting to feel like I don't have enough time). This journey was a bit less of an adventure - the roads were all sealed and nothing particularily interesting happen. It was strange though to be the only western on the bus - hadn't had that happen before. But I got into Luang Prabang with no mishaps and got into a really nice guesthouse - hot water, a western toilet (it actually flushes!!!) and it's off the street so it's fairly quiet. Ahhh the things we start to value...

So walking around last night I actually ran into the people I had hung out with in Chiang Mai... They were moving on today but I'll probably catch up with them again in Vientiene. And we made plans for July 13 (the Full Moon Party in Thailand) so I'll see them then anyway. But of course, since they're Irish, we had to go out for a few of the Beerlao... Sitting by the river Mekong drinking beerlao... ahhhh the joys of travelling...

Today I haven't done all that much - walked up Phousi (a steep hill right in the center of town)... but other than that I've just been wandering - errands really... laundry, developing pictures, sitting in a cafe drinking lao coffee (very good) and in about an hour I'm meeting some folks to go to a show at the royal theater. Oh that's right - I did go to the royal palace this morning and walked around. Really impressive until you compare it to Europe's palaces... Then it all seems kind of strange....