Kayaking Down the Mekong

Yesterday, Keith and I rented kayaks down the Mekong River. To be honest, it was a bit disappointing. The Mekong is a really ugly river, brown with thick muddy sediment on its bottom. The surrounding area was lovely - limestone cliffs, thick brush, and mountains in the distance. Thank goodness it was overcast because we could've been fried by the harsh sun here. There's an intereting route to get to Laos from Thailand and that's to float down the Mekong on a slow boat. After seeing the river, though, I'm glad that we chose to not do that.

Or, it could've been that we were badly hungover. We found a wine bar (the only one we've seen in SE Asia), and quickly went through two bottles of champagne, while chatting up another couple travelling from England. We finished the at the Luang Prabang bowling alley, the only place that's open after curfew (11:30 pm). So totally random to have a bowling alley here! So, all the young backpackers go there to drink late into the night, and so we joined in. Man, did we ever feel old. We were the only ones there married, and I think the old age closest to Keith and I was 28!! So, we've learned now to stay away from there. Bt, it was fun, I have to say.

Today, we are off to Bangkok again, because I've run out of pages in my passport. As I said on Facebook, "don't you hate it when that happens?" Bangkok's the nearest city that has a US Embassy, so we'll arrive there this afternoon, and stay until Wednesday morning. Then, we're off to the beach in Bali! Hopefully, we wont be sleeping on the beach - it's high season there and the hotels get booked up quickly, we've read.

Luang Prabang, Laos, was one of my favorite places on this trip. Not only was the elephant village a total joy, but the town itself here is really quaint, clean, and has good western food and a great choice of wine. The Lao people are warm, friendly, trustworthly, and eager to practice their english. The shopping was fantastic, and I've vowed not to buy another thing on this trip. I've already had to buy an enormous carry-on bag to fit all our goodies! But, when else would we ever be back here? Four days was definately enough, but we enjoyed all of it (except the hangover yesterday).

Will post another blog soon when we're in Bangkok. Miss everyone!