Laos..here we go

our room in chiang kong
9hrs boat ride frm pak beng to luang prabang
Royal Palace Museum, where we cldnt snap any picx inside.
our first n last grp pic (dun have a habit of taking pic of us tgt hah)
teaching angela how to ride a bike outside Wat Xieng Thong
shopping at luang prabang
Room in Luang Prabang--undeniably the best room during the entire trip. Tanoy Guest House US$12 per night. but divide out its US$3/person
It has a balcony. nice bird-eye view
lazing ard in our room
road side food
chilling out at a pub, it has nice ambience
beer lao. its a nice beer. i love beer!
Phusi Mountain, where we got the magnificent view of Luang Prabang Here it is!
one of the randome pix i took during the trek along tiger trails
alms giving. mind u, we had to wake up at 530 to catch e procession at 630am.
Here we are at Vang Vien. Feeding the elephant
finally managed to whip out the camera aft the rain stopped. it was a chilly land expedition where it didnt rain, but poured. we r on e elephant
elephant rides
motorbiking in vang vien
me pillion riding on wenting's
our room in vang vien--thavisouk resort. cosy
we live next to each other in adjacent rooms CA9 and CA10. cool balcony, small interior
breakfast by the river, anyone?
vang vien has no 'soul', its suffering frm tourist invasion. the eateries r swamped wif pple like us, who patronise them to watch Friends. We watched frm 730-1030pm for 2 nights in a row
2 big TVs showing Friends. "i'll be there for u...when the rain starts to pour.."
our sea expedition adventure in vang vien. darn, no picx of us kayaking since the camera was in the waterproof bag. we stopoever at some place to do flying fox! way cool..
here we r in vientiane! our airconditioned room with TV US$16 per nite = US$4/person. v comfy n clean indeed.
we came to vientiane (capital of laos) n passed by a college. walked in n saw these gals copying their results frm the board. so old school
reminds me of 早安老师

chilling out at banlao beer garden in vientiane.
visited a weaving n sewing vocational centre for women. seriously, id look at wooven bags/items in a different light frm now on. *salute*
weaving is an extremely meticulous process. sadly, i dun have such patience n nimble hands, or even an eye for detail
@Patuxi. bird's eye view of Vientiane
and u thought we were in paris for a moment?
the black stupa
comfort toy anyone? the most expensive meal ever for tiz entire trip! 47000kip=SGD8. thanx to sarah's idea of eating in a france restaurant on the last night we spent in vientiane. i only ate 2-3 mouthful..hated the taste of olive oil.
gorgous setting n atmosphere though
women doing aerobics
the golden stupa..we walked in the blazing sun to get here. didnt take tuk tuk coz we had no money on us. walked 6km here, n 6km back to our guest house.
the golden stupa
little mischievous monk playing

the only catholic church i've seen so far, in the land of wats

the sabaidee bus. 12 hr overnight bus ride frm vientiane to bangkok
the bus had attached toilet
shopping! sarah's unglam moment
dunking donuts anyone?
our bags packed n ready to go..back to destination home sweet home
16-26th july. went to laos. covered the northern loop, which began frm chiang kong-> pak beng-> luang prabang->vang vien ->vientiane -> bangkok. since there was no direct flights to laos, we had to enter frm chiang mai, n exit frm bangkok. it was an extremely fun n enjoyable backpacking trip wif wt, sarah n angela. gg on a backpacking trip wif a grp of 4 is conducive, since it meant we cld play mahjong, or big 2 to occupy time. smtg which we did an overdose of..esp since we had sooo much time to kill during the looong boat rides, n b4 we slept.

i particularly enjoyed tiz backpacking trip, which also served as my graduation trip. its everythign in one, esp since there was also trekking (land expedition) and kayaking (sea expedition). Also rode on elephants n did motorbiking in vang vien. Kayaking down to vang vien, with the scenic view of caves/mountains to the right, n villages on our left, left a deep impression. an image tt i wont forget for a long time to come. we did the Tiger Trails trek in the rain, was completely soaked n taken out of our comfort zones. I simply loved the feeling of being cold, hungry n wet. it's quite sadistic but i totally love tt feeling coz it makes me appreciate the warmth tt i take so much for granted back home.

dun really have much to blog abt, but i left laos wif alot of personal thoughts n feelings, a better understanding of myself.

wads next? maybe thailand, cambodia or vietnam.