A not so quick synopsis

I know it's been forever since I've updated. So I'm just going to sum up some of the fun things we've been doing and then I'll get back on track with blogging more often. Let's see, where to start....

Haha well I've yet to mention my little "accident" in Chang Mai. It was evening and I was riding my rented bicycle home from the night market. I took a wrong turn and got lost, so I turned into a gas station for directions. I figured out where I was and as I pulled out of the parking lot onto an empty street a motorbike came flying around the corner. Looking back I don't think he saw me because he didn't slow or swerve until the last second. I however saw him coming the whole time and peddled my little heart out to make it to the other side. It was to no avail though because the motorbike hit me and the bicycle went flying one direction and I the other. I landed on my back and when the driver of the motorbike saw me get up 10 seconds later he sped away with eyes that showed he was scared to death. I felt fine at the time and the locals were absolutely sweet as can be and helped get me a taxi that took me back to the hotel. As a result of the accident though I hurt my left foot. Ahhhhh the irony. As most of you know I hurt my right ankle this summer in Greece and it never healed properly and I still wear a brace. I packed one of my crutches though (the smaller wrist European kind that I could take apart and put in my pack) just in case I re-injured my right ankle. Haha but no I ended up using the crutch for the left foot which was just badly bruised! After about two weeks of hobbling on the crutch though I'm good as new.....for now:-)

After Chang Mai we spent a few quiet days in Chang Rai and then headed up to the border to Chang Kong. From there we boarded a two day slow boat ride through Lao to Lam Probong (I have no idea how to spell it). The first day of the boat ride I hung out with a group of backpackers most of the afternoon and Dan and I met up with them again when the boat stopped for the evening in Pak Bang. The next day when we arrived in Lam Probong the 10 of us stayed at the same hostel and ended up travelling together for the next two weeks!

Our group was made up of 3 americans, 1 canadian, 2 brits, 2 dutch guys, and 2 swedes. The group all started with different plans but everyone got along so well that we changed them to head down to Vien Veing together to go "tubing". Pretty much its one huge party down the river for backpackers. You get on your tube and go from bar to bar where it feels more like spring break in Miami then on the river in Lao. The bars have huge rope swings, zip lines, and massive slides into the water. After an afternoon at the different riverside bars you actually get on your tube for a while and head down the river to the end point. Our first day doing it (yeah, we did it two days in a row :-) I went down the long stretch of tubing with Will and Sasha, the two Brits. Sasha drank waaaaay too much, not too uncommon for her I found out, and ended up falling out of her tube. When Will and I finally got to her 10 minutes later she passed out in the water. I grabbed a hold of her arm and then held her ahead above water for the next two minutes until we got her to wake up and get back into her tube. The incident quickly sobered us all up, and I was relieved when Sasha opted out of tubing again the following day. Other then that debacle, it was really fun!

After a few days of tubing in Vien Vieng we kayaked to Vientiane, and ran into some rapids along the way. The guide spent at least 20 minutes explaining what to do if you fall out of the kayak on the rapids. I thought he seemed a bit overcautious, but when Dan and I fell out of the kayak in the first rapids I quickly understood his concerns. We rushed along holding onto the kayak with Dan yelling to me to keep my feet up because of the rocks below. After about 2 minutes we came towards the end and one of the guides paddled over to help us turn our kayak upright. By the end of the trip though all the boats in our group flipped at one point so I felt a bit better. We stopped for lunch half way down and the guides lit a fire and began grilling shishkabobsfor us. Dan and most of the group went up the river a bit for a 30 ft. jump off of a cliff! I watched under the pretense that I didn't want to get injured yet again, but also it was way to high for me!

When we arrived in Vientiane our group was down to 8 as we made plans to head down to Thakek for a four day motorbike ride. The dutch guys had planned to do the motorbike loop and came prepared with a good map and an understanding of the route, the rest of us just tagged along! One the first day we stopped at a gorgeous blue river for a afternoon swim and then headed back out to the road to try and make it to the hostel before dark. Unfortunately Sasha had an accident as she almost got side swiped pulling out of a parking lot and slid on the gravel. She was really scrapped up and bruised but overall she was ok. The next day the poor girl fell for a second time on the stone filled dirt mountain roads. The a good portion of the group was a bit fed up and said they didn't want to backtrack for her and told her to go back to the closest town to get her bike fixed and then meet them about 60km up the road at the next village. Dan and I weren't keen on their plan to leave her behind so the two of us followed the truck that took her and her bike back to the repair shop. The bike was fixed within fifteen minutes but one of the dutch guys who went ahead had taken the key!! Dan was the hero of the Day racing to the next town and searching for half an hour to find them, got the key, and rode the 60 km back again to the repair shop. I tried riding Sasha's bike and I saw what the problem was, it was absolutely terrible on gravel!! Her bike shook so badly you felt like it could slide out at any moment. Keep in mind too that 75% of the four day ride was on gravel or dirt roads. Dan switched bikes with her for a good portion of the day and then Sasha got back on and found her groove with it and was much better. The afternoon was a lot more fun though because it was spent almost entirely in the jungle. We drove down a dirt potholed road with the jungle leaves above creating an eerie glow of sunshine peeking through. The potholed roads were actually fun after you got the hang of bouncing out of one hole and into the next. It made me feel like I was in a video game for much of the time, constantly avoiding the chicken, cattle, dogs, and holes in the road. After four days we made our way back to Thakek and from there the eight of us finally parted ways.

Next Dan and I took a night bus to Vietnam, which turned out to be an adventure in itself! We boarded at 9:00pm and arrived the following day in Vinh at 4:00pm. When we first got on the bus the only thing we could do was laugh as we saw that every inch of floor space was filled with large sacks of rice. We squeezed into the seats, our feet resting on two sacks, and I immediately fell asleep. I awoke at 2:30am when the bus pulled over on the side of the road and I assumed that maybe the driver was stopping for an hours rest. I became a bit worried though when I woke up again at 6:30am and the bus was still parked on the side of the road, the passengers all resting peacefully as if this was completely normal. It turned out that we had to wait until the boarder crossing to Vietnam opened. One of the passengers in front of us had put his seat all the way down in the middle of the night forcing Dan with his long legs to sleep sideways. When in the morning the man left the bus for a moment we quickly pushed the armrest button sending his seat upright. When he came back he apparently wasn't to fond of our little maneuver and spent most of the next hour making fun of us in Vietnamese. As Dan aptly pointed out, it would be really hard to travel here if you didn't have good self esteem. We tried all the usual tactics, ignoring, smiling, offering food, back to ignoring, and by the time we got to the border he had lost interest. The border was a bit crazy and after 3 hours of processing our paperwork and passports we were on our way, haha but not for long! We stopped in a small town for 2 1/2 hours to unload all the rice from the rice bus and after that we really were on our way to Vinh. We stayed there for the evening and the next day took a bus to Hanoi, where we are now!

My first impressions of Hanoi are a little jaded by how overwhelmed I am with all of the motorbikes. After getting hit by the motorbike in Chang Mai, crossing the street always makes me a bit nervous. Here there is only one traffic law, every man for himself. Here is a youtube video I found of the Hanoi streets. The people seem friendly though and all of the shops are filled with interesting fruits and new food. I only spent a couple of hours outside this morning before coming into the internet cafe, so I don't think I can really tell you all that much yet. I'll write more once I've spent more time here.