Luang Prabang

Our first day here we really just wanted to chill out with no public Transport so we rented bikes and drove around with no real purpose. It was great! We first climbed down the river bank, crossed a very sketchy bamboo bridge and then back up the river bank. It was a hot day for a bike ride but we got out of the city and into more rural towns whic was nice. We had a pretty good group of us. Myself and the 2 guys I'm wih, 2 Canadians from Guelph who we met at the Laos immigration. I really like them we spent a lot of time with them. An American girl who is still with us and a German guy who we also think is on our bus tonight to Vang Vieng. We've also picked up 2 friends of Matt hat he knows from Canada. They'll be with us for the rest of Laos and then they head back home. I also booked a 2 day trek which I've been doing for the last 2 days. Yesterday we hiked for about 6 hours. I didn't think it would that intense but it was straight up for more than 1/2. It felt good to do activity again... All that walking in the jungle reminded me of all the walking in the bush we do for fire. We stopped at 3 villages. All under 400, one had only 25! 2 of them were of the Hmong tribe and the other I'm not sure, I couldn't really understand. We stayed over in the last village at a homestay. They cooked us meals and we stayed in their house which was really neat. Everything was very basic, had a delicious noodle soup dinner and in the morning they made us eggs. The accommodation was bamboo huts with a hard sleeping bad and some pretty gross blankets. But they kept me warm, the nights get pretty chilly because we're in the north of Laos, and we were at a higher elevation. This morning we did an hour hike down to an elephant village. I wasn't sold on whether I wanted to ride an elephant because I know that some are treated very poorly but this place saves elephants who were working in logging. The way it was explained was that having an elephant is very expensive- they eat up to 1000 lbs of food a day!!! So in order to have an elephant it needs to bring in some sort of income- like logging. But as logging becomes more uncommon ( more laws making it more regulated) the elephants won't have homes. So this sanctuary rescues them and creates revenue with tourism. People can ride them, feed and bathe them. And it's a lot better (easier) work for them. Having them explain this made me feel better about riding them. It really was great! I got to sit on his neck and we walked through the water and the jungle for about 45 minutes. The mahout (elephant guide) told me the elephants name but it was in laos so I can't spell it, or pronounce it! But I know he was 32 years old. After that we kayaked 3 hours back to town. There were a few little rapids which was fun. A really great trip- tiring though! And I was really impressed with the company- Tiger Trails. They give a % of our fees to the villages we visit as well as to the elephants. Eco tourism seems to be a big thing in Laos which I love. When I left our plan was to head to Vang Vieng on Saturday morning but when I got back to our hostel the guys had booked us buses and hostels so I'm on the night bus there now! The bus is pretty cool- it's my first experience on a 1st class bus. We've been doing 2nd class. This bus has individual pod beds for each person- much more comfortable than sitting. This bus is only 6 hours though... Although 6 hours on Asian transport is usually closer to 8. I'm having an amazing time! It's been quite a whirlwind since I got here. The second half of my trip will be much more relaxing. We have 5 days in Koh Phangnan where 3 other friends from fire are meeting us. I am planning a dive certification course for 4 days in Koh Tao and then hopefully do some surfing and yoga somewhere (maybe Indonesia?) and then to Cambodia for the last week! Plans are slowly materializing but will most likely change many times! <3