Loving Laos

At first we didn't think we were loving Laos. We had a very long travel day from Ha Noi > Vientiane > Vang Vieng. We were excited to experience the outdoor activities in Vang Vieng because we had heard great things, but the weather was not on our side. Needless to say, the view outside of our "bungalo" was breathtaking. 

This is how we felt about Van Vieng. 

Trying to make the best of it turned out interesting! We ducked out from the pouring rain multiple times and enjoyed a bar that played only Friends and another with looping Family Guy. We were hoping to meet many fellow travelers in this town, but it seemed empty! Even the "popular" places only had a small handful of people inside. Luckily we made best friends with the huge cockroaches in our room. They kept us engaged all night long (aka we didn't sleep out of fear). It was raining the next day as well so we decided to cut our losses and head to Luang Prabang! 

The six-hour trip there was quite an adventure in itself. We both tried to finish our long novels, but reading became a lost hope about an hour in. The next five hours were spent holding on to our seats as the crazy driver whipped around mountainside corners. Everyone in the car including the six South Koreans and one Israeli agreed! There's no language barrier that keeps you from recognizing some craaaazy driving! We also bridged the language gap by playing some car games. Arelys has no knowledge of American movies or actors, in case anyone is looking to challenge her in trivia! 

We arrived fairly late, took a tuk tuk (Lao's version Über) to our hotel, and had a late dinner of fried rice and sweet and sour chicken.

Today has been our favorite day here. Maybe because we finally slept, maybe because there are other people around, but probably because we just really like it in Luang Prabang. 

Our day began at the poolside of our hotel. We were the only people there except for a WONDERFUL Chinese family. It took us more than an hour to realize that they weren't saying they were from Thailand. And the unusual amount of times they mentioned Yo Yo Ma really threw us off. We bonded first with their children who wanted to play with us in the pool and by the time a few hours had passed they were giving us delicious pork jerkey, sticky rice, pork rinds, and pastries. They even included us in their photo shoot! There is no language barrier that can keep you away from a Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift sing-along. 

Our hotel is necessarily "in town" and it actually feels like we're in the Skokie of Southeast Asia. Unlike the crowded Manila, Ho Chi Minh, and Ha Noi streets, the homes each have their own fenced in yards. We walked out of our hotel and decided to use our internal compasses to find our way into town. We ended up stopping for directions a few times, but there went that language barrier, no one could help us. We are true navigators and we didn't even use our cell phone data. 

On our route we saw a beautiful temples, shrines, and monk villages. 

Everything is written in characters we don't understand! 

Coincidentally, Arelys had just mentioned an episode of the Today Show where the hosts had gotten a fish foot exfoliation. On our walk we stumbled upon a fish spa where for $4 you get ten minutes of hundreds of tiny fish eating the dead skin of your feet. Arelys almost back out, but with Nicki's tough love and encouragement (the same used when we zip lined 40 stories in the air), you'll be happy to know we dove in feet first. We kept asking the people at the spa if it hurt and they kept saying yes. This didn't help! Luckily that was just the language barrier and the real experience was wonderful. Arelys thought it tickled and Nicki thought it felt like a small electric current. 

We then explored the town, tried delicious coconut pancakes on the street, and then had our next adventure. We took a boat across the Mekong to a treehouse restaurant overlooking the river. 

Afterwards we spent way to much time and money in the beautiful night market. We got you some souvenirs but got ourselves more. Whoops! We then enjoyed tasty Pad Thai for dinner. We couldn't wait any longer :)

Our night had a very rough ending. We gave away our hotel business card to a trip company who will take us elephant riding and caving on Sunday. We didn't remember we would need it later for the tuk tuk because we were so excited. Two tuk tuks and one very scary short walk later we ended up at our hotel. Nicki then went to finish the cookies she had for a snack and realized there was a colony of ants living inside the bag! Unfortunately we discovered this after she put the bag on her bed! Thankfully Arelys swooped in and killed them all! Hopefully tonight we will sleep without ants in our pants or beds.

This is how we feel about Luang Prabang. 

Until next time! 

The Frizzy Girls 

In case you were wondering, it's also hot in Laos.