It’s a mouthful, but that’s where we are at the moment. We had very few preconceived notions about Laos (pronounced like Matt “Lauer” without the “er”). Frankly, we didn’t really know that much about the place. I figured since it lies between Thailand and Vietnam it would just be some sort of combination of the two. As it turns out, this country has a completely unique culture – and it’s awesome.

First and foremost, the food. It’s all about fresh herbs and simple flavors. There’s a major French influence but no creams or sauces. Because the Lao people eat with their fingers, they prefer sticky rice which can kneaded between the thumb and forefinger and used to scoop up the meal. We’ve had some of the finest meals of the whole trip already, including our traditional lunch of sticky rice and dips today.

Another highlight has been a trek to the local waterfall which we hiked all the way up to the top of. It was pretty grueling, only to get to the top and not be able to get to the other side to go back down. Turns out it actually could be done, as luckily we ran into a guy on our way back down who had done it before and showed us the path over the top of the waterfall. 

Everything was going wonderful until a leech attached itself to Joy's foot. Pulling it off was pretty hard - that sucker (get it?) just didn't want to let go.  At the bottom we decided to take a dip in the pool under one of the falls and were soon joined by a troop of monks. It was honestly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen as they swung on the tree rope and jumped off the falls in their full orange robes.