Sabaidee!! (hello in Lao)

We had such a fabulous last week in Laos! Since our last update we spent a couple of lazy days in a town called Nong Khiaw, and then quite a bit of time in Luang Nam Tha. We knew that in Luang Nam Tha we wanted to do some trekking and had it recommended by many people. On the bus there from Nong Khiaw we met 3 girls that were planning to do the same thing, and decided to try and book a trek together in order to make it cheaper. We had such a great time with the girls--2 were from Sweden and 1 was from England. We stayed in the same hotel and spent quite a bit of time together. The next day we were looking for treks and met a couple from the US that was also trying to book a tour. We ended up finding an awesome tour that consisted of a day of trekking, spending the night in a small ethnic village, and kayaking the next day. We spent the next day riding bikes around Luang Nam Tha and surrounding villages--there are countless ethnic villages surrounding the city and it's interesting how easy it is to distinguish between them. We spent time getting to know the girls we had met and the couple from the U.S. Everyone got along so well and we really enjoyed spending time with everyone!

The next morning we started our hike, which was about 10 km through the forest. It was quite steep but really enjoyable. We didn't see any animals because everyone was chattering the whole way, and it flew by! The last part of the hike was along the river which was nice, and we passed through a few villages. The villages are pretty amazing--the palm houses are well constructed, there is a lot of order to how things are done and where things are, and everyone seems to have a role in making it work. The village we stayed in was no different. We were entertained by the pigs, goats, cows, chickens, children, dogs, and cats running loose everywhere, and all of the animals seemed to have babies! We laughed by how entertained we were, considering you can find all of those things running around Missouri! About 30% of the money we paid for the trek goes straight to the village we stayed in, and they helped prepare dinner and our sleeping area. All of the meals we ate on the trip were incredible, and eaten off of banana leaves. We had sticky rice, spiced beef, pumpkin soup, tomatos, and of course Lao Lao (the infamously potent Lao whiskey). The village chief and 2 other men ate with us and kept passing the Lao Lao. Our guide was able to translate so we could all talk with each other, and we learned a lot about the chief and the inner-workings of the village. After dinner we all sat around a fire and drank warm beer, which wasn't too bad because it was quite chilly out. The next day we got to go kayaking all day! Jason and I have kayaked together quite a few times, but apparently are not very good partners. There were 4 kayaks with 2 people in each, and we definitely got stuck on rocks the most. We ran into an overhanging tree once and I fell in the water, and later sailed right into a rock and tipped over! The 3 bags we had fell out and I tried to grab them in the current while Jason righted the kayak. The current was so strong I couldn't pull the bags I'd grabbed and it was hard to get back in the kayak--one of our paddles and a bag floated downstream but our guide grabbed them. We had a great time with it though and were laughing the whole day. That night we had to say goodbye to everyone, as we were all going separate ways the next day. We both agree that Laos was such a nice surprise and left us relaxed and satisfied when we left. The landscapes were beautiful, the people were friendly, and the beer was cheap and good.

Crossing the border to Thailand was a breeze. The entire process of checking out of Laos, taking a ferry across the Mekong, and getting into Thailand took about 15 mins. Compared to our 2 hour ordeal getting into Laos, this was a treat. We arrived in Chang Khong on the border, and sporadically decided to take a late night bus to Chiang Mai that would leave at 6:30. We had a few hours to kill in Chang Khong, and while we were there an awesome night market started to line the streets. Food stalls were everywhere with countless types of Thai food, baked goods, drinks, fried chicken, sausages, and lots of other yummy treats. We started regretting our decision to leave that night, especially since we were exhausted from the trek. Fortunately we got the ticket moved to the next morning! So we spent a few hours at the market eating the best fried chicken we've ever had (who knew it was in Thailand!) and sampling lots of different food. Yesterday we took the bus to Chiang Mai, and it was easily the best bus ride we've had on the trip. The road was paved, our driver was sane, and it wasn't through mountains. Chiang Mai so far is wonderful, and we plan to spend quite a few days here. We've pretty much decided to devote our Chiang Mai budget to food! Which I'm of course happy with. We're taking a cooking course, which includes a morning session learning 7 dishes and an evening class with the same thing. We also get a tour of the market, cookbook, and most importantly we get to eat everything!! There are many open markets here which all have very cheap and good food--last night was a Sunday market that was just incredible! We got to have some excellent sushi, more fried chicken, quail eggs, noodles, "ancient ice cream" (Jason's new obsession), and kebabs. Tonight we are going to the Night Bazaar, which promises more cheap and yummy food, and supposedly has a Burger King close by as well! And there are a few Mexican restaurants in town, and a Starbucks....I could go on forever about the food! Needless to say we're loving Thailand so far.

We have some other exciting news--we booked our plane tickets to Myanmar! (Burma). And what's more exciting is Nancy, the girl from England that we went trekking with, is coming too! She had been planning to go but it fell through, and it happened to work out she could go when we are. So we split up for now, but are planning to meet in Bangkok on December 22 to fly out, where we'll be until January 15th. Obviously this means we'll be spending Christmas, New Years, and both of our birthdays in Myanmar which we didn't plan, but it just worked out. We're not envisioning any crazy New Years parties, but it should be an interesting place to be for all of that.

We'll be in Chiang Mai for a few days, then take the bus to Bangkok. We won't spend much time there though because we'll be there for awhile next month waiting for our Myanmar visa. I can't believe we're already on our third country, it's flying by! Hope everyone reading this is doing well, we miss you all :)

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Addition by Jason:

We made a rough itinerary for the rest of our trip which I figured I'd post, since a lot of people have asked about it. It should now be in the sidebar. Also, I put together a nifty little map that should help give everyone a visual of where it is we have been... I will update it as we move along. I'm still working on posting pictures (from Laos), and it probably be a few days before they are all up.