Time to head South

Well folks, after what we thought was going to be two nights in Vang Vieng, we are just wrapping up night  five in our beautiful hostel, Champa Lao Villa.

Our bus will be here in about 2 hours to take us to Vientiane.  Time to take a break from some of the partying and get back to a little culture. We did really enjoy this town, however. As cheesy as we thought it was going to be, we met some great people and were able to do a lot of outdoor activity in addition to all of the bar activity. 

As you could probably tell from the pictures, I spent the first day caving!  Katy wasn't feeling too hot (probably after some questionable food the night before), so she stayed in, but myself and our new English and Swiss friends rented motorbikes and headed north to one of the caves we had read about.  After a bumpy, dusty, ride, we stumbled across the cave entrances.  We realized that we only had one headlamp between the three of us so we ventured in hoping it would hold on for the remainder of our exploration :)
After an hour or so of walking, we started wondering whether we could actually get out on the other side as we had hoped....and realized that we couldn't. Jokes on us........

We luckily ran into a guy who was with a guide who informed us that we would have to turn around to get out on the other side. We eventually did when Nick realized that his headlamp appeared dimmer than it had before.....we would have never made it out if that light went out!    Once we happily emerged into the sunlight, covered in sweat and dirt, we were in desperate need of a beer- and luckily there was a few local people who had a sign advertising beer and food.....and they welcomed us with open arms to their lunch table.  The women made us some amazing food and the men were trying to feed us beer faster than we could keep up (unfortunately I had to take the brunt of most of it as the boys had to drive).

After sharing many "nok noks" (cheers!) with the family...we hopped back on the bikes, swung by our hostel and picked up Katy, and went searching for the Blue Lagoon.  It was unfortunately a little too late and dark to find it....so we saved that for a few days later :)  But it was a fun bike ride either way!

The next day we spent kayaking, caving, and trekking, enjoying some beautiful scenery and cool bugs....and the following day relaxing at the Blue Lagoon (pretty obvious from the pictures).  

Then on to the infamous tubing of Vang Vieng yesterday!  Katy and I had been very apprehensive of this concept as we know it is pretty dangerous and we thought you had to actually be in the water a lot.  Turns out, "tubing" essentially means going to some waterfront bars and drinking large amounts of alcohol....the water part of it is actually pretty insignificant.  So we hopped in a tuk tuk, got dropped off at the first bar, and played a few rounds of beer pong with a new group of English friends (everyone here is English or Canadian).  This place is crazy.....it's like a giant fraternity spring break party......and pretty funny to observe when you are not nearly as messed up as everyone else around you :)

So now we sit, watching a few more episodes of Friends before our bus gets here.  Next up: Vientiane, for a little more culture via the Laos History Museum and a historical site that was recommended to us but whose name I can't remember at the moment. I definitely want/need to learn more about the American intervention that occurred here in the 60s-70s.....there are still unexploded bombs that are now like landmines in some parts of the country that are a current danger to the local people- it is a tad embarrassing to say you are from America here as the leftovers of all of our bombing still can kill the people here.  But more on that once we become more informed.

Hope all is well with everyone in the States!!!