Laos OH Laos

Hello! Its been quite some time since ive last wrote a post. Amanda and I have been very busy travelling with some new friends weve met. The last time I wrote we were in Thailand and now we are in the great country of Laos (pronounced Lao). We entered the country by crossing one of the greatest rivers in the world, the Mekong. This river starts its journey in the tallest mountain range in the world and makes its way into Laos. We crossed the river at about 5:30pm and went straight to customs in Laos to get our passport stamped. They ended up charging us an extra U.S. dollar to enter because of the so called overtime tax. This was not legal and i demanded a receipt so i could show to a consulate. They wrote me one and it read 35 instead of 36 dollars. After several minutes of requesting the right receipt I got nowhere. I gave up due to soaking my shirt in sweat from the crazy heat. We dropped our bags off at a nice guesthouse and then headed for a walk/beer. We passed by the office of The Gibbon Experience and saw some people we met on the bus standing outside. They were going to do the experience in a couple of days and it made us rethink the idea of doing it ourselves. We had been going back and forth on whether or not we would do the tour. We herd great stories and horrible stories about it. The price was also deterring us from booking it but while sitting in the office we decided that it is a once in a lifetime chance, and booked it. Our trip would leave the next morning at 8am and would last till the next day. We ran into our friends on the street again and we went to a river view restaurant for beers and dinner. They were from Holland and are on a similar trip as ours. The food was decent but the company was much better. We had a great night in the tiny town of Huay Xai and before making it back to our guesthouse we ran into a couple that owned a convenience store. This couple was Amazing, they spoke great broken english and were extremely eccentric. They helped us get everything we needed for our night in the jungle and than we were off to sleep. The next day we went into the jungle by truck with just one other couple. Once out of the truck we began our hike into the jungle for about 2 hours and 30 minutes. This is where we started zip lining! We ziplined through jungle, valleys, over rivers, and to treehouses. This might of been one of the best days of my life. We got to our treehouse at around 2pm where we had snacks and drinks while relaxing. The treehouse had epic views of the valley below and a great breeze to put me in a mood for a nap. At 5pm the guides came back to take us on another ziplining trip and this one took us to the so called biggest tree in Laos. This thing is huge! The tree has been blessed by a local monk and wrapped with traditional orange cloth to protect it from Paul Bunyan. We returned to our treehouse hours later for dinner and than the guides left us to be for the rest of the night.The food was great and the sounds of the jungle were ridiculous. Theres a fly the lives here thats over 7 inches long, HUGE, and makes the craziest noises in the evening. Its not just the monstrous fly making noise, its every animal performing at different times. Its as if they have set times in the evening on when they perform their show. I got some great sleep that night and in the morning we woke to do more ziplining as well as hiking. We ended our hike at a small village where we had lunch prepared by some locals. We were than transported by truck along an extremely muddy road back to Huay Xai. We got stuck in the mud 3 times and one of the times both trucks got stuck. The two days were action packed full of adventure. The next day we woke early to grab snacks and head to the slow boat dock to catch a boat ride down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. The trip would take 2 full days with a nights sleep in the town of Pakbeng. This was one of the best experiences of the trip where amanda and i met so many good people. We met 3 other couples that we would travel/hangout with for the next 4 or 5 days. After the long journey we made it to the great town of Luang Prabang and instantly searched for accommodation due to lack of sunlight. A bunch of us slowboaters grouped together and than slowly disintegrated. We found a descent guesthouse for 5usd with another couple we met, Brien and Jamie. The place was in a great location and to find out we had 2 other slowboaters in the same one with a couple more across the street. Luang Prabang has a daily night market that is incredible to wonder thru so this is what we did first. Before getting to the market we ran into Christopher and Angelique, a couple from Sweden, so they came along with us. We sped thru the market because everyone was hungry. We stumbled upon a night food market and found heaven. This market had a large variety of food and we found ourselves eating at a buffet for 1.20usd. I decided to go all out and get a BeerLaos to go along with the tastyness. After diiner we saw our friends Lesa and Tesa (from denmark and holland) and asked them if they wanted to join us in the morning to go to the waterfalls. So in the morning we had 4 couples all pitch in to get a tuk-tuk to take us to Kuang SI and Tad Sae. Before embarking on our trip we met for breakfast and had crepes and fresh fruit shakes. The first waterfall was Kuang Si which is the bigger of the two. The falls had places to swim, jump, and rope swing. The water was a beautiful turquoise color and the temperature was so perfect. We found a trail that took us to the top of the falls with epic views and adventurous trekking. After spending a few hours we got our things, got some food, and headed for the next falls. The ride to Tad Sae was very bumpy and long but it was well worth all the effort. The falls were only approachable by boat so we had to hire a local to drive us there. The boat ride was amazing, we passed local kids playing in the river while the adults fished for dinner. These falls were just as amzing but in a different way. The first falls were huge and roaring with sound and the latter was filled with dozens of pools to swim. We found ourselves far up the river with not enough time to get back to the boats before they left us. So we ran down there to let them know we still need a ride. They almost left us to! The day was absolutely amazing with such pretty sights and the greatest company. That night brien, jamie, amanda , and i got dinner at a riverside restaurant and than went for a walk along the river. I herd some live music and my ears followed it to find that it was a traditonal Laos musical dance. I got some coconut rice patties at the night market and than we ran into Lesa and Tesa. They were going to Utopia for drinks so we decided to tag along and follow. This bar/lounge was right on the river in a residential neighborhood and had the best views/vibe. After a beer I got up to go to the bathroom to find that the bar has a night time beach volleyball court. To add to it there were people from the slow boat playing and they needed more people. So I played some volleyball for a little while and than walked back to our guersthouse. The next morning we rented bikes to cruise around town and see the temples. Saw lots of the city and got so hot doing it we decided to got to a fancy resort and use their pool. All we had to do was buy one drink and we could swim for however long we would like. That night we went to the night food market to find a lady I read about the serves Pho and Khoa Soy, both soup dishes. We found her and now I love her. The food was so amazing that I ate both dishes. We ran into all our friends on the street market and decided to meet at Utopia for some volleyball. It was a great night of competitive ball and beeeeers. The next morning we caught a bus to Vang Vieng and got into the town in the late afternoon. We took the bus with jamie and brien and while looking for a guesthouse we found tesa and lesa swimming in the river. We booked two nights at the same place they got which had great views of the karst cliffs as well as sunset. We had great indian food that night as well as some buckets of liquor. The next morning we went to the blue lagoon for swimming and jumping and than went tubing down the river. Mike Im sorry to say that the real tubing has been shutdown due to 22 deaths this year. Although all the bars were shutdown we still had a blast. That night we kept it chill and relaxed on our balcony and had an amzing melon shake. The next morning we caught a 7am bus for Vientianne where we dropped our bags off at brien and jamies guesthouse and than went straight to Xeing Khuan (aka Buddha Park). This park has infused Buddhism, Hinduism, and Mythology. Its a really trippy park and was well worth the rough ride out there. Now that brings me to the present moment where I am in a internet cafe in the Vientianne city center. We are going to grab some dinner with our friends and than Amanda and I will leave for Pakse, Laos. We are taking a sleeper bus that leaves at 8pm and gets to pakse at 6am. We will miss all of our new friends weve traveled with but home to see them one day in the future. My friend christopher I met here said goodbye to me in Luang Prabang and than added "I hope to meet you again". I really like that phrase cause you never know if you'll see these people again in ur life. And if i dont, it was well worth meeting them once. Wish us luck on our sleeper bus! It was great finally catching up with writing and I hope next time it will be an easier write. Life is great!