This place rules

Yeah, so I'm in Vang Vieng, which is cool - other than the fact that all the bars and restaurants play non-stop "Friends" episodes all day and all night long, which I just can't understand. The scenery is amazing with sheer limestone cliffs everywhere on mountains jutting up from the Mekong river. I'm staying in a nice and cheap guesthouse right on the river. Today four of us hiked about 6 km out of town through a couple of teeny little villages with oxen, cattle, pigs, and dusty little kids swimming in ponds. It's a lot like rural Cambodia actually, though maybe not quite as poor. The kids all get excited to see us and run right up to say Sahbaidee!! (hello) and give us high fives and big smiles. It's funny - kids in other places ask for candy or money if they ask for anything, but all of these kids were asking for pens - way better if you ask me. So I'm going to head to the market tomorrow to get a big bag of cheap ballpoints. The hike led us up to a really cool big cave with a reclining buddha.

So yeah, three days ago, I left Bangkok on the night train to Nong Khai, then crossed the border with no troubles. Got into Vientiene midday and checked into a $1.50 dorm bed (can't beat that!) It's a dusty small city with a huge expat community, and yet it's the capital of the country - so I knew I'd like Laos immediately if that's as frantic as it gets. Yesterday, 6 of us made our way up to Vang Vieng on the local bus (after crisscrossing the city and overpaying tuk tuk drivers just to "save" money on our bus ticket ;), and here we are! I think we're going innertubing on the Mekong tomorrow, then I'm going to head up to Luang Prabang on Sunday. I'm itching to get out into the countryside where there aren't so many other travelers and just chill on the river for a few days watching the locals fish. Sounds like bliss...