"Today I have one goal - to make it down the river" - Vang Vieng, Laos

hey everyone, currently in vietnam - more on that later (trying to preserve chronological order...)

so, i last left you with my perfect day in vang vieng...i meant to leave shortly after, but 1 perfect day turned into 5 perfect days.. the morning after my first perfect day i intended to rent a motorbike (a must in s.e. asia..). however, i woke up around 10am still somewhat drunk so i quickly vetoed that idea and rented a pushbike instead (you know how brilliant my riding skills are...). so, over the unpaved rocky road i went, avoiding pigs and generally trying to remember how to work a bike. an hour later i had picked up some japanese friends (not much english passed between us, but i got the impression they wanted me to guide them to the caves, so i pretended to be competent), and arrived at a huge cave (the name escapes me at the moment). after climbing straight up for an hour, i delved into the pitch black cave. let me remind you that in southeast asia, anything goes - so, despite huge bottomless holes and no light and no real markers, you're allowed to go in as far as you want. so, using my headlamp (courtesy of laura), i charged in with terry, a Kiwi guy also in the mood for some adventure. i was lucky to have him with me, cause my lamp was in serious need of some battery juice (i.e. it was running out of light, and quickly). anyways, we avoided crevices and stalagtites and who knows what together, and basically walked until we came to a point where we couldn't walk anymore (BIG BOTTOMLESS HOLE = death). After we finally found our way out there was a beautiful lagoon waiting for us, where i first met cat, a wonderful irish chick who sometimes gets caught up in her own world, and sharn and jim, a great "posh" british couple who have traveled almost everywhere in the world and have amazing stories. i ended up meeting up with this crew (which of course kept growing and growing), lots throughout laos. A few swings into the lagoon later (yay rope swings), we had bonded quite nicely and all biked back together to town.

The next day i woke up, fully intending to leave vang vieng (here's where the story gets repetitive..i "intended" on leaving every morning for the next few days)); however, as i headed for breakfast I saw my new friends waiting to go tubing...with a little convincing (and i was pretty easily convinced), i threw on my bikini and off i went down the river, ready to tube, hit up the bamboo bars and soak up more sun and beautiful scenery. also, i told myself that i would make it all the way down the river this time and leave the big bars before sundown...hah. no dice. i made it as far as the bank across from the bar this time (about 12 minutes down the river from the start, making that an approximate 10% completion of the river). Met tons of cool people again, and promised to meet them at the bar later.

After a quick shower and a banana pancake (the backpackers premium fastfood), I headed out in search for a tuk tuk because I was volunteering at the local english school that night. As it goes in Laos, I couldn't find any tuk tuks that were actually manned by people. so, i rushed over to one of my laos friends and asked her to help me out. sure enough, she says, "i'll close down my store, hop on my motorbike and i'll drive you!" so, free ride to the organic farm where i was volunteering - taught english that night to a group of younger kids, and then to others about my age. it was pretty sweet; everyone was there on their own time and were quite willing to learn, and were super nice. We spent a good chunk of our time trying to explain the usage of "as for", which in the end we just kinda said...you know what? no one actually uses the idiom "as for" anyways, just don't worry about it. The classes were pretty casual, with volunteers coming in everyday to teach the students out of texts they have. it was great, and i wish i had time to go back more!
later that night i headed back to lak, the girl who drove me to the farm, and bought her a beer. we sat in front of her massage store and drank, and when she was doing business i played with her energetic, adorable daughter and chatted with her sister and mom. they kept bringing me tons of food, which was probably necessary due to the large nature of the beers. Eventually the shop closed, and we were tipsy enough to jump around the massage beds for a while, dancing to Lak's favourite song (the one by atomic kitten...); you could clearly see into the massage rooms from the street, so everyone probably thought we were crazy. Then, eventually her dad told us to go to the bar, so Lak brought me to a Laos bar, where i nicely fit in (thank you dark skin and dim lights) - I saw two white guys walk in at one point, look around, and then awkwardly backed out of the bar. After dancing to some old pop, i decided to call it a night. However, on return to my room i saw that the bonfires were raging across on the island, so i braved the rickety bridge and ended up chilling at the fire until 7am with new and old faces. I met a group of 4 ridiculous irish guys...think of any group of 4 best guys friends that you know and then times their guy-like-ridiculousness (or stupidity, whatever you want to call it) by 400. this is what these guys were like, and it was fabulous - for some reason i fit in really well with them, so, compounded by the late bedtime, I ended up waking up, not ready to take the bus out yet, and went tubing with them...again :D needless to say, i didn't make it down the river again (maybe 18 minutes this time...i swear i went with all intentions to get down this time)). anyways, the party lasted all day, hitting up the bar in town, followed by more bonfire (and another late night - the sun rise was gorgeous). eventually i bought myself a bus ticket so one morning i was forced to leave. said my goodbyes, and headed off... as is the backpacker life.