Leisurely Laos... I'll be there for you!

That's the last of our group floating into one of the bars along the river. How cool is this?

So, here I am perched in a tree ready to jump. I am also crapping my pants.

And, this is me amidst an incredibly painful fall.

The zipline was fun... and a whole lot safer than some of the other things available.

I looked at the date today: October 26th. Could that really be possible? Have I been in Laos for a week already? As it turns out, I totally have been here for a week. Coming to Laos is like entering this crazy time warp. Nobody seems to move very fast here and delays are the norm.... the busdriver is thirsty? That's okay! We'll just pull the bus over and make a pitstop for half an hour. We have a flat tire? Is there a spare? There sure isn't! But, that's okay! We'll just pull the bus over and rebuild the tire from 1956 in a really sketchy way in front of 10 horrified travellers!
So that's Laos. But, actually Laos is so much more. I am writing from Vang Vieng about 3.5 hours north of the capital, Vientiane. Vientiane was a riot... but, like I said, it was like entering a time warp. Everything closed down between 10:30-11:00pm and most of the lights went out around town. In Vientiane, I was getting about 10 hours of sleep a night.
I met up with a cool girl in Kota Bharu in Malaysia. We were both heading to BKK and then into Laos, so we have been together since. Alice and I just made our way to Vang Vieng (okay, like four days ago), which is one of the coolest places on earth. A couple days ago we went "caving". We went into all these, quite frightening actually, caves. It was like something out of Aliens, or something. Or, maybe like that movie "The Cave" with Eddie Cibrian and Piper Perabo. But, I don't know because I never saw that movie cause it looks really bad. I digress. Point is, the caves were creepy and there were lots of bugs and stuff. We also got to hang out in one of the villages on the outskirts of town. But, with the exception of garnering a little attention from a few of the smaller children, everyone just sort of ignored us and went about their day.
Yesterday, was the coolest day of my entire trip. We went tubing down a river for the entire day. There seems to be some contention as to whether it is actually the Mekong River, or some other less important river. But, for the purposes of my blog, I will assume it is the Mekong, because that's cooler. So anyway, we would float down this river and about every one hundred feet or so there is a bar where you can get your Beer Lao and also engage in some extreme jumping sports. They have zip-lines, big swings and trapeze-like things. We're jumping off make-shift tree houses, while drinking, so really it is one of the safest things you could ever do. Pics are on the way.
Other than that, Vang Vieng is pretty cool. Restaurants play "Friends" here around the clock. Being the cultural adventurer that I am, I have only watched about 2.5 seasons in three days. Wow, those friends are funny. seriously though, I wake up in the morning go for breakfast: Friends. Lunch: Friends. Dinner: Friends. Beer Lao: Friends. Post-tubing Beer Lao: Friends. Night-cap: Friends. You get the point.
I'm off for another day of tubing. For all those who care and are in the vicinity, I have decided to come home December 11th (being the cheapest day to fly). Still have no plan yet as to where I am going to be before leaving for Australia.. but, I will be in Montreal for at least a while.
Also! Two of my favourite people got engaged. The proposal is all romantic including big mountains and runny noses. Congratulations Sarah and Mike! For the full story, check our their blog, which is included in my links.
Mom - will put laos pictures up soon!