finally in LAOS!

ok so first off, im sorry that theres been a complete lack of photos but i seriously just cant be asked. plus im 'busy' doing....something or the other. also the time it takes to post them just plain pisses me off and it makes blogging a not so positive experience...but i'll do it soon anyway!

so im finally in laos which is such a relief after thailand. im not gonna knock thailand cause i was only in bangkok and koh phan ngan, basically a week in each place, but i cant say i looooooved thailand. anyway bangkok was good, we basically lived on koh san road for the entire time but it was much needed rest. and mini's friends started arriving and off we went down to one of the southern islands, koh phan ngan, for the infamous full moon party.

unfortunately, from the moment we left bangkok, mini was mad sick for like 4 days, plus there were crazy thunder and lightning storms pretty much the entire time so we didnt get to do much. i really wanted to just lie out on the beach and tan but the rain kinda stopped that shit from happening. (although we had a clear day at the end and i got a bit of sun. and then on the very day we left (at 6 am, ugh) it was super sunny.) plus i was also unhappy with our first place of residence, a gathering of bamboo and wooden huts run by a mad woman with dreads. and the place was called MUNCHIES. 'nuf said. honestly, bamboo huts are a great novelty....at first. but then it just loses its charm. especially when its dumping rain, water runs out every couple of hours, and we were apparently fortunate enough to have one of the huts that had a western toilet....cept there was no toilet seat. anyway we were there for i think 3 nites and then id had enough and we moved like 1 min away to fantastic bungalows which were the exact same price (which i was kinda choked about cause fuck, we shoulda moved sooner!) and then all was lovely.

anyway, the island is just crazy. the landscape itself is pretty nuts and the roads are not so good. we lived about 20 min from the main beach and roads were just going up and down massive hills the whole time. on a motorbike going uphill, the bike would almost pop a wheelie or stall out and start to slide backwards. even going uphill in the back of a pickup, the truck would kinda stall out. it was like going on a rollercoaster cept a potentiallly fatal one. basically everytime we were on the road, i thought i was going to die. so that was fun!

as for the full moon party, it was just like a giant ass dance party on the beach. tons and tons of people, lots of music and LOTS of fucking rain! when we first arrived it was raining sooo hard we were completely soaked right off the bat. and then come the buckets! as those who have gone know already, you just drink these beach buckets filled with a strong mix of an entire micky of 'vodka' (soo not vodka, just strong shit in opened smirnoff bottles), red bull and a can of pop. it was good times. everynite there were parties on the beach, complete with buckets as always but the full moon was definitely the biggest party.

and then from there we took a boat, bus, flight back to bangkok just to take an overnite 13 hr bus from bangkok here to LAOS!!! it was a damn long journey but as of yesterday morning we are now in vientiane, the capital of laos! for a capital city theres not much going on but its a nice breath of fresh air after the madness of thailand. we havent done much but were staying in a lovely hotel for not too much money...and its got a bathtub!! and a flushing toilet! and a tv with movie channels! living in the lap of luxury man. but yeah theres really not much to do here (or we just didnt do anything...take your pick) but its nice. today we hopped the local bus for a 50 min or so ride out to a place called buddha park which was just a funky place filled with statues of buddhas and other deities. there was even a giant pumpkin-y looking structure with a tree poking out the top that you could climb up to the top of and look out over the park. thaaaat was interesting.

anyway im happy to be in laos and im happy to be back w/ my laughing cow cheese and baguettes. tomorrow morning we get on a bus and head to vang vieng and then soon sweet sweet eugene will be there to see me! my first taste of home in 4 months! and hes bringing me underwear and tampons cause hes my hero. what more can a girl ask for really?