Those little bastards – they were not actually biting us, but they were crawling on the walls and on and in our blankets. Nothing will keep you awake like not having a bed, and Vientiene Laos shuts down too early to have made a room change.
Now I am super tired! We had to get up and take all of our stuff to the laundry! Then we got conned into paying a tuk tuk driver way to much money to take us a fairly short distance. All the other drivers were laughing at us. Chelsea always says “It’s only $8.50” and undermines me in my bartering. It’s the premise! I am a business minded man, and bartering is like a challenge to me, plus I need to practice feeling people out
. In the end though, that is comforting knowing that it was still cheaper than back home, even though in one short ride he made twice his usual daily wage.For about four or five days before where we arrived in Vientiene, we were in a small’ish’ town called Vang Vieng. It was really beautiful, and super touristy. The big draw is to go "tubing”. Tubing is somewhat of a Laos phenomenon, and possibly my new favorite sport. The rules? Drink copious amounts of ridiculous cocktails and beer lao, float down the river on inner-tubes, stopping at bars and clubs all along both sides, and then prove that you are the biggest man (or have the most liquid courage) by jumping off of, swinging off of, and sliding down the biggest, most rickety looking structures to ever reach the third world.
Chelsea rockin the trapeez! See the giant swings they made? Hold on tight!
Massive slide that launches you into a 20 foot back flop!
Massive jumps need massive buckets of “Lau Lau” (moonshine) and the sweetest things you can find to cover up the absolutely horrible taste.
A lot of people have mixed feelings about Vang Vieng. First of all, it is all tourists partaking in the sport of “tubing”. Second of all, it pretty much undermines everything about Lao culture and respect. Third of all, it is severely dangerous. People get too drunk and die often, easy to understand. Me and Chelsea kept it pretty much in control but we have some big bruises from smacking the water too hard, or doing to many back flops/ belly flops. (Chelsea has a huge, black bruise on her left butt cheek. It looks like a hit a grand slam on her booty). All in all, we tubed for three days! Even though it was like the ‘vegas’ of Laos, we had tons of fun. Fun that you could only have in a country lacking a legal system, and basically any sort of rules at all.
We made some friends! Chelsea = Cats (who would have guessed!) and me... I found some very strange birds!
We also went hot air ballooning. It was only $70 USD each, so we could not pass that up! It was great, see the vid. below!
Today we got some passport pictures taken (16 for $2.00! I knew that $20 for 2 back home was such a rip off!) and tomorrow we are applying for our Vietnamese VISA. Once we get that, we will jump on a plane and fly to Hanoi. Originally we were coming home April 16th, but we might not get to see everything we want by then, so luckily with Korean Air we can push our plane tickets for free!
Laos phrase of the day “Suk-di pee-mai” = Give me a good deal!
Also, I would recommend that everyone check out the 2011 Asian Beach Games. Some cool/interesting sports involved! I like volleyball, no hands and tent pegging. It is a huge deal here right now!
Cheers!
Mack
For some reason, I cannot see the hot air balloon photos. I want to see what I missed out on.
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