Lovely Laos

Well, I am feeling much better now that I am no longer sick and my adventurous spirit has returned. :)

We crossed into Laos Tuesday night by taking a boat across the Mekong river from the Thai border station. We arranged a bus for the next day to take us inland to Luang Prabang which is where we are now. The bus took 12.5 hours to travel 300 miles, so you can imagine how great the roads are here, and the bus for that matter! There is an immediate differance traveing from Thailand into Laos, with everything from the comfort of the buses to the landscape to the living conditions. Thailand does not feel so much like a 3rd world country...even in the small towns it seems that most of the homes have water, electricity, and are well made structures; the roads are in good repair; people seem to have things like cell phones, motorbikes, nice clothes....it seems most people have above just basic living requirments in most places. Laos is very beautiful and a lot of the land is still jungle and uncultivated (compared with Thailand that is covered in rice fields, coffee and tea plantations, corn, bananas, etc.). We saw many small rural villages on our bus ride with barefoot kids playing in the dirt, community showers from a bamboo pipe, houses of bamboo weave walls and thatch roof, primitive farming techniques, people carrying buckets of water to their homes on their backs, etc. It feels much poorer in the small villages (althoung some of the bamboo huts did have satelite dishes outside!). The town we are in is a french colony and it is a nice mix architecturally and culturally (they have baguettes and baked goods! mmm!). We are enjoying exploring. The country is really beautiful and still has a wild feel to it. We are looking forward to a boat trip in a few days to explore a little further!