Journals

We were awoken early by this Austrian couple so that we could get down to the boat and obtain decent seats before the masses piled on.  Grabbed a quick breakfast and a sandwich to go and made our way down to the boat.     It w as a different boat than that from yesterday.  This one was longer yet narrower with cushions on the seat.  Still we opted for the front where we could stretch out once again.  Though we were some of the first people on the boat, by the time it left our front area was slightly crowded with an Israeli couple being the only familiar faces from the previous days adventure.    Today’s journey had rain mixed with sunshine  and surprisingly was shorter then expected.  We arrived in Louangphrabang during a downpour and waited several minutes before exiting the boat.  The prospect of getting wet soon became much more attractive then spending another second on the boat so we grabbed our bags and made our way through town finding a guest house right in the center.  We went out for pizza and then spent the evening at this cool coffee shop reading and listening (by default) to Mr. Lao. Got up this morning and went for a run through town.  Louangphrabang is beautiful- and has to be my favorite town thus far.  It seems like a small European town nestled in the green hills of Southeast Asia.  There are only three blocks worth of a downtown and the streets are lined with cafes and bookshops.  After lunch we caught a minibus to a waterfall where we climbed near the top and took some pictures.  We stopped and chatted with two French girls who were on our van and then grabbed two coconuts and drank their milk.  These coconuts were either not ripe or bad, yet that didn’t keep us from finishing due to our competitive natures.  We took the windy road back through the countryside and then climbed to the top of this temple to see the sunset.  The view was gorgeous but the sunset was not.  It was too cloudy.  We met some other Americans at the top and ran into our Israeli couple again.   Afterwards we walked down through the night market and ran into Peace, Love, and Happiness and Chatters, grabbed dinner and then spent the night at the Hive having beers with our English and Irish friends.