Lovely lovely Laos

Laos is truly a spectacular place.  This past Saturday I returned from a two-week trip throughout the country, along with travel buddy and good friend Maria.  We took the overnight train up to the northern border and covered the capital and surrounding cities for the first half, then took an overnight sleeper bus to the south for the second half and trained in back to Bangkok a week later.  With almost no developed tourism industry, the trip was hassle-free and very smooth - no one was down our throat with travel deals, no one scammed us out of our money, and never once did I feel threatened or uncomfortable (except that one crazy lady who was grabbing our arm and yelling something in Laos...fairly innocuous though).  If anything, people went out of their way to help us - from pointing out that I left my camera cover in the pick-up truck to shepherding us onto the correct bus.

With two weeks of stories and musings, I have a lot of material to work from. Instead of boring all you wonderful people to death with a play-by-play of my trip, I’ll share excerpts from my journal that may be slightly more interesting along with a few bulleted lists.  I’ve totally fallen off the “sunday update” schedule and probably won’t be using Picasa albums, but definitely check out my Facebook page for more pictures.  I’m a picture fiend and take way to many for my own good.

For now, it's off to Cambodia!  I'll be back in a few days, with a complete update - promise!

Peace~