Spring Break (Part II)- Vientiene, Luang Probang, and Vang Vieng, Laos

Hey Guys,
About three quarters of the way through spring break, and I'll still alive. I have to tell you though, there have been a number of close calls. This trip has been ridiculous, and I hope I can start to put into words what it has been like.
After meeting up with Chris in Bankok, we messed around in the city until our flight to Vientiene, Laos. The flight experience was somewhat archaic. Flying on Lao Airlines, we were escorted onto a propeller plane, with wings that were above the fusilage. The ride was quite smooth, as you can imagine...
Upon touching down, we made our way to the Mekong, and had our first meal in Laos. With our backpacks in hand, we sat down at one of the riverside restaurants. Local set-ups lined the river, many of which served the exact same thing. The food offerings are not diverse in Laos, and there are really only 8 or 9 dishes that are eaten. This made our decision pretty easy.
After sitting down with our first 660 mL BeerLao, Chris was served some great spring rolls, and I got the noodle soup. The soup was brougt out in a boiling pot atop a basket of flaming coals that remained lit throughout my meal. All of the ingredients for the soup were served to me raw on the side. It was my job to mix all of the meats and veggies in the flaming basket. Luckily, a local Laos man took pity on me and gave me a hand.
The next morning, Chris and I took to the roads of Vientiene on motorbike. We had a couple of spots that we wanted to see, but mainly wanted to cruise around and enjoy ourselves. The New Year had not ended, meaning that many of the shops and attractions were closed. However, we found a very cool herbal sauna and traditional Laos Massage at one of the cities major temples. This consumed our entire afternoon, and proved to be well worth our time.
Completely rejuvinated, we got back on the motorbikes. We were prepared to return the bike, get a bite to eat, and head to the bus station to get on the overnight bus to Luang Probang. Our simple plan was complicated by the fact that the entire Lao population lined the street determined to soak us for the New Year. While their intentions were good, neither Chris nor I were happy to ride a ten hour bus soaking wet. Our contentment was not important.
Our bus left Vientiene at 7:30 PM and pulled into a bus station at around 4:30 AM. Although we could not see much in the night's darkness, any hope of sleep that night was disrupted by the constant bumps and turns of the switchbacks through the unpaved roads of Laos. To give you a sense, the trip was only 250ish km, but took 10 hours- that's how good the roads were.
When we pulled into the bus station at 4:30 AM, we were told that we were staying the night and driving to Luang Probang the next day. This was unacceptable, and we soon learned that we were only about 10 km outside of the city. Chris and I luckily found a tuk-tuk to drag us into the city. We were met by some drunken foreigners who wer stumbling back to their guesthouse. We were informed that all of the guesthouses in town were full for the New Year's festivities, but we followed them anyway. We claimed the last two beds in town in the basement of some guesthouse for $2/ night. Granted, we were sleeping in a room with eight other stangers, and we had no bathroom or shower, but Chris and I were happy as can be.
The next day, we explored the Pak Ou caves. We made friendly with a local tuk tuk driver named Sit, and he agreed to choufeur us around the city for the next two days. The Pak Ou caves were pretty neat. After a scenic journey 28 km north of town, we explored the caves that were decorated with over 4000 buddha statues, many of which had been destroyed. The caves had religious importance to the local people who flocked after New Year to get good luck for the year ahead. Initially, the caves had been built to honor the River God, but after the Chinese brought Buddhism to the territory, the River God was replaced with Buddha.
On the way back, we stopped at one of the local villages that used to be well known for its jarmaking. These days, those famous jars have been filled with Laos rice whisky and various reptiles. Needless to say, the locals poured us drinks of the 45% alcohol concoction, and our throats burned us the entire ride home.
The night market in Luang Probang offered a tremendous array of cool textiles and handicrafts, most of which were impossible for us to carry around with us the rest of the trip. For that reason, we were content trying the local food (especially the dried spiced beef and the Mekong rivermoss) and drinking the local brew before heading to our basement dormitory for an early night.
We rose with the sun, and met Sit to go to the Tat Kuang Si Waterfalls. I had great expectations going into this trip, and the waterfalls surpassed all of them. These were unquestionably the most spectacular flows of water I have ever seen. The falls were much more impressive than the warring black bears and tiger that we saw on the hike up. I will attach photos when I get back to Hong Kong because words cannot describe the natural insanity of these falls. We trekked all the way to the top, to places where locals would be nervous to venture. A thrillride to say the least- many memories were built at those falls.
That afternoon, we made the executive decision to hop on a bus and head to Vang Vieng. I feel like everytime I decide to take a bus I regret it. This was no different. Chris and I were the last people on the bus, and we were rewarded with no air conditioning, no luggage room, and a copious amount of local people crowding onto plastic stools in the aisle. Of course, there were numerous unanticipated stops and many uncomfortable situations. The only entertainment was the 13 year old monk that sat two rows in front of us. At one point, we mistook his cell phone call for meditation- our mistake. Around the seven hour mark, we were getting nervous that our six hour bus trip should have ended. We stood up at a sign of civilization, and our timing could not have been better. We were in Vang Vieng, and the bus was prepared to continue on. We were the only ones to get off the bus. Apparantly, the bus was headed all the way to Vientiene- no wonder we were overcharged.
A women greeted us at the bus station offering us accomodation. For $4/night, we were rewarded with a double room with two twin matresses and our own bathroom. Unwilling to bargain, and eager to get some rest, we accepted her invitation with open arms, and settled into a good night's sleep.
Rising early, we met up with Tom and Chase for breakfast at one of the renoun TV Bars. These venues have episodes of Friends playing on repeat, and the Rembrants theme song has since become permanantly lodged in my memory. Another unique aspect of the restaurants here are the "happy" and "ecstatic" items, that have been laced with either marijuana or ecstacy. I steered clear from those, but some others apparantly did not.
After breakfast, we went out onto the Lazy River, and made a day of cruising down on intertubes and sipping on BeerLao. The scenery was tremendous, and it could not have been more relaxing (or lazy for that matter).
Feeling a little guilty and needing transportation down to Vientiene, we booked a kayaking trip all the way down, set to depart tomorrow at 8:30 am. I feel like we have a long day of paddling in store, but it should be a really good time. I would have paid any amount of money, and expended any amount of energy to keep myself off another one of those buses. I will let you know how it goes.
I'm off for now, and I'm sorry for the narration. Sometime soon, we'll be face to face, and I can tell you these stories in a more entertaining format. Talk to you soon. Off to Cambodia and the famous Angkor Wat- One of the seven wonders of the world.