In Laos

Dear Mom and Dad,

We have officially left Thailand and done another border crossing into Laos.  First, I need to finish off Thailand. This picture is of Andy saying "hi" to our Asian neighbors. Our hostel had a top half that a group of Chinese dudes occupied. They were fascinated by the floorboard that connected our rooms and would open it up to look down. It was really funny when Andy climbed the latter to surprise them with his peeking face. 

I left my mouthguard in the bamboo hut and desperately needed to buy a new one. I sleep with one to prevent my teeth from grinding because my teeth have slowly started to chip if I forget to wear it. I was in a panick after I realized I didn't have it with me because there was no dentist in the town. Andy saved the day and found a muay Thai training camp next to our hostel. An athletic mouthguard never crossed my mind as a substitute. His expertise from many years of hockey came in handy. He helped heat up the guard and coached me on how to form it to my mouth. It surprisingly fits nicely. Here is the outdoor training camp.

I got an extra in case I loose it again. I could also go into boxing if necessary.

A van picked us up at our hostel and drove us down to Chiang Mai. From Chiang Mai, we drove to Chiang Rai and then to Chiang Khong where we stayed the night. We were in the minivan for twelve hours. At 8am we took a bus to the border and did a border crossing. We didn't get stamped for Laos until 11am. It took forever! Our visa cost $35. Then we took the bus to the river where we got on the slow boat. Some of these pictures are out of order.

This is a picture of the slowboat. I can't format it to be near the other boat pics.

This is where we got our Laos stamps.

This is where we departed from the slow boat. We rode the boat until 6pm and stayed in Pak Beng overnight. It was a tiny town that hosts the slow boat guests. We each paid $3.50 a night for accommodations.

Tuckered Andy enjoying the boat.

It was neat to see the local people working on the river and in their villages. Clearly, the river is their lifeline.

Charlie and I enjoying the ride and views.

Some more of our sights

The currency exchange rate is $1USD to $8,000 kip. I've never had over a million dollars in my hand. I'm rich!

Sunset from the first night. Beautiful! The weather has definitely started to cool down. At night we can even see our breathe sometimes.

The second day on the slow boat was a little bit more exciting. We had to get to the boat early in order to ensure seats and not sit in the engine room. Like everything else, the boat was oversold, and many people didn't have seats.

Four hours into the trip, the engine caught on fire, and the boat had to be beached. We didn't care because the weather was hot, and the beach was gorgeous!

Enjoying the sun.

another boat arrived to bring us the rest of the way since our original  boat was shot. There was no fixing a burnt engine, and after two hours the staff realized it. Just as we were going to board the new boat, a bee flew down Andy's shirt. A bystander thought he was being helpful and slapped his back. This was not helpful and caused the bee to sting Andy. This was problematic because Andy is allergic to bee stings, so we had to act quickly by first getting a credit card to scrape out the stinger. Then we had to search through all the bags to find Andy's in order to get his epi pen. We had many people helping sift through the bags, and everything turned out okay. A bit frightening nonetheless.

Here I am climbing to the new boat.

Two hundred people smashed on a much smaller boat riding uncomfortably for another four hours.

We were thankful to arrive in Luang Prabang, our destination for four nights. Our room cost $7.50 a person per night. We spend the first full day resting after the long and stressful trip. We don't have much planned yet.

Love,

The refugees