Laos-ing around

I have spent the last 3 days travelling including one day in a mini-bus to reach the Thailand-Laos border, and two days on a slow boat on the Mekong river, in order to reach my current location, Luang Prabeng, Laos. I met some lovely people on my bus, and we have been like six peas in a pod ever since. It's quite fun! Our first night we spent in Chiang Khong, not much happening there but we had a pleasant evening anyhow, drinking Leo beer in one of the rooms and getting to know each other. The seats on the boat were terribly uncomfortable, the motor on the boat broke down at one point, and the town where we stayed (Prakbeng) had no electricity so it was a long and sweaty night. But, the slow boat was safer than the speed boat option, where "fatalities are not uncommon" and the mood on the boat was sociable and relaxed. I taught them all how to play the card game Asshole and learned a new card trick.

So far, I quite like Laos. The people seem to be a little less pushy than they are in Thailand; we caught a couple of people snoozing at their market stalls today. Activities for today also included sleeping in (kind of), having a nice breakfast, visiting wats (including one at the top of a mountain), and just orienting ourselves around the town. Tonight we will return to one of the wats and attend a service. It should be a fabulous experience...

Tomorrow, we will maybe go to a waterfall and who knows what else...