Laos Wrap Up:

Although we only had just under a week to spend in this wondrous country, we truly fell in love with many things about it. The people like in Vietnam are so friendly and playful, however here in Laos they also seem to possess a timid quality. They would often time look at us in an apprehensive manner while interacting as if to elicit some sort of authorization. The land itself in this country is so lush and beautiful. As the airplane decended into Luang Prabang, both Jason and I were in awe over the views of rolling, lush, undeveloped mountains and jungles. We had no idea what the food would be like, and we were amazed at how unique, fresh , fragrant and delicious it all was – Jason’s considering opening a Laotion restaurant in SF, since we don’t think there are any.

Highs/Best Moments: discovering how delicious and fresh Laos food is; hiking to the top of Kuang Si Waterfalls, and swimming in the pools below; delicious dinner at L’Elephante restaurant; lunch at Tamarind and eating our meal with only our fingers; narrowly missing all the torrential rainstorms in the comfort of being under shelter; very sweet tuk-tuk drivers that happily waited for us at dinner to then take us home; lunch at JoMa’s of some nice Western cuisine; releazing our “love” birds at the top of Phousi Hill; seeing monks everywhere; buying two tank tops; having a delicious Indian lunch in Vientiane

Lows/Worst Moments: giant spider in the bathroom that freaked me out so badly I had to take something to sleep that night; not being able to figure out how to cross over the top of the Kuang Si waterfall, but eventually clinging to some adventurous Aussie’s that got us through; the worst massage ever at Lao Plaza Hotel that I was counting the minutes to be over and hoping not to be injured; way overpaying by probably 3 times for our tuk-tuk ride around Vientiane; realizing how much road work they were doing in Vientiane which made it very difficult to walk the streets

Sights: water buffalo; vibrant bright blue skies with the most amazing cloud formations; heat lightening; sporadic torrential rainstorms; lush, tropical forests; huge spiders; the Mekong River; monks in their beautiful robes; waterfalls; temples everywhere; large dung piles on our waterfall hike;

Food and Drink: sticky rice kneaded in our fingers to scoop food up with; fried river weed (like seawood) that we dipped in a chutney; eggplant dips; minced fish wrapped in banana leaf; chicken, coconut, curry casserole; Laos beer; insanely large and cheese drenched “sandwich” at JoMa

Favorites:

Towns: Luang Prabang

Accommodations: Masson Soubanphon in Luang PRabang

Food:

Restaurants: L’Elephante in Luang Prabang, Le’Chedi, Tamarind

Drink: lemongrass and ginger refresher drink at Tamarind restaurant in Luang Prabang. BeerLao

Activities: hiking to the top of the Kuang waterfalls; swinging on the rope swing into the falls; walking around Luang Prabang in search for tank tops; climbing Phousi Hill; taking tuk-tuks everywhere for mere dollasds

Internet Connections: Masson Souphanoun’s free and fast wireless connection

Least Favorites:

Towns: Vientiane

Accommodations: Loa Plaza Hotel (only b/c it was so devoid of character)

Food: the water chestnut dish at Tamarind that was just too overly-fragrant

Restaurants: Cote-Sod in Vientiane on Nha Fun Road

Drink: red wine at Cote-Sode that tasted as if it may have spoiled

Activities: avoiding walking in the mud drenched streets that were under construction in Vientiane

Internet Connections: Lao Plaza charging for internet, and turning it off exactly 24 hours later

Exchange Rate: 9,600 Kip equals $1 USD