VANG VIENG KAYAKING AND CAVING

I had an amazing day kayaking yesterday! Vang Vieng is so incredibly beautiful I'm going to miss it.

I had 2 rather interesting adventures in a short 12 hour period. Friday night while I was getting ready for bed (and I should say its a little on the rural side here so I was somewhat prepared for a bug encounter)I'm in my pajamas about to get into bed when I hear a loud flapping sound followed by a thump on the floor beside me and look down to the creepiest largest cicada bug beside me in my room. Clearly, I can't sleep until it is removed from the premises.  Long story short: I emptied the garbage can from the bathroom, corralled the thing in a corner and threw the garbage can over it....then slowly moved the can to the patio door pushed it out on the the patio and closed the door leaving it on the patio under the garbage can....all while squealing like a little girl. Then I obsessively tucked in my mosquito net around the bed.

The second part of my adventure occurred the next morning when I went out to free the bug and retrieve my garbage can(somehow the bug escaped???) but as I went outside the patio door shut behind me locking me outside on the patio....on the second floor!! Thank god my room was the last one on the side the building and beside an outdoor staircase that the staff use. I twisted around the wall and was very grateful to eventually see some one coming down the stairs, I yelled at him and in crappy charades, while hanging off my balcony, eventually established my predicament! Unfortunately, I had locked my room door with not only the key but also a latch from inside so they couldn't get into my room to free me. Eventually, after much discussion, and half the staff involved ....one of the men went through another room, scaled across several patios, climbed the 10 foot divider and got onto my deck with a key and got me back in. Seriously, this door has a lock on the outside that I don't even have a key for and it's designed to automatically lock, how many people does this happen to?? I could have been trapped there for hours if my room had been in the middle! haha, I escaped unscathed and made it to my tour on time.

I signed up for a day trip that included kayaking down the river, hiking and caving. It was very fun, the weather was great and the scenery was just beautiful. The caves around here are absolutely huge, pitch black and deadly quiet inside. I ended up having dinnedrlast night with a couple girls from the tour, Meg and Emily from New York, and it was good to get out and socialize in the evening...this has really turned into something of a party town and it was good to have a couple people my age to hang out with that weren't stoned or drunk.

The yummy lunch our guide cooked!



Water buffalo's soaking!



I just arrived in Luang Prabang today..long 6 hour bus trip but I here the scenery is stunning.(also a little sad to see how much cut and burn farming that is going on in Laos...large sawth of jungle burned down and more burning seen in the distance. The guesthouse here in Luang Prabang in really pretty and another amazing view.



View from my balcony in Luang Prabang

  As far as my future travel plans...still undecided, Ko Phagnan is out due to flooding and frankly all of southern Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippine's and Indonesia is rainy right now so I'm giving up the dream of a relaxing beach week and will just explore instead...I'm thinking of going to Jogjakarta to see Borobudur Temple then into northern Malaysia where I'll make my way down to Kuala Lumpur and catch back up to my itinerary. I'll decide for sure within the next day or so here.

I'm off to check out the town!