Laos

We made it to Laos a few days ago and so far its been great. Last i left off we were in Chiang Mai about to do a three day trek which was pretty awesome. The trek included an elephant ride, one night in a hill tribe village, one night it a camp at some waterfalls, lots of walking and swimming and some bamboo rafting on the last day. It was cool also because it was only the two of us and a Japanese girl with us and the guide. Some times tours like that can feel a bit too touristy but this one was quite good. After Chiang Mei we took a bus north to Chiang Rei and stayed there for two days. There wasn't a lot to do, but it was a nice place to relax for a few days and figure out our plans. Next was a bus to Chiang Khong and a ferry over the Mekong river into Loas and the town of Huay Xai. From our travels so far Laos seems to be similar to Thailand, but over all more relaxed and less crowded, which makes sense since there are fewer people. We decided to take the slow boat to Luang Prabang, which took two full days, but was pretty fun. Its a bit of a touristy thing to do but the river was great and we meet some people that we ended up hanging out with for the next few days which was awesome. The boat was really simple, just bench seats, but it stopped for the night it a cute little town where we got some great food and attempted to do some karaoke, haha. The karaoke didn't work out too well because there was no screen with lyrics and the mic didn't really work, but i had a good time anyways. So now we are in Luang Probang and tomorrow we are going to head up north to the Nam Ha wild life park. Luang Probang is great, its full of nice temples, great food and it has a fun almost french feel to it. A bit like Pondicherry in India. It the kind of place thats easy to stay longer then expected just because its so relaxed and nice to walk around, but i think we have stayed long enough, so we will head out tomorrow.