Quick Recap

Ok so I realized that I haven't updated this in a few days. So here's what happened.

I woke up to rain on the tree house in Vang Vieng a few days ago. I must say, it was one of the coolest experiences ever. All you could hear was pounding rain on the roof and there I was, in a tree house, on a bunk under a mosquito net in Laos. It was awesome.

We left Vang Vieng on a "VIP" bus headed towards the capital, Vientiane. I use the term VIP loosely because, well, it was one of the jankiest buses I've ever been on. The ceilings were caving in, there was no ventilation, and it was just kinda gross. Didn't work properly either because about an hour into it, the bus blew a tire and 50 tourists were caught sitting on the side of the road next to a remote village. It was kind of entertaining actually. Shaun and I have had a ridiculous amount of luck with our transportation so it was only time before something went wrong.

To entertain ourselves while we waited 2 hours for another bus, Shaun, Pedro, Danny and I (our friends that we met on the slow boat and stayed with in Vang Vieng), bought some "Latino color" chips. I had no idea what Latino chips tasted like or why there was a picture of a Mexican with a blue tongue but we soon found out. Only in Laos would they sell potato chips that turn your tongue blue. Being the 10 year olds that we are, this kept us entertained until the next bus came. We'll call the next bus "The Mosquito Trap". It not only caught the mosquitos within the bus, but it trapped us with about 100 new friends. The next 2 hours were spent swatting mosquitos against the window or listening to the thumping on the windows as everyone else smacked them. My window was covered with the buggers by the time we got to Vientiane. It was a trophy of sorts.

Finding a suitable guesthouse at 8pm in Vientiane in high season isn't exactly a walk in the park. Most of the places recommended were full and we ended up at a questionable guesthouse in the boonies. Our bathroom had no sink or windows. Case and point. Needless to say, Shaun and I got out of there at 7am the next morning to make other arrangements. We had originally planned on staying in Vientiane through the New Year, but Shaun suggested we go back to Bangkok for a few days. The beauty of not having plans...you can always change your plans. We then booked an overnight train to Bangkok and spent the rest of the day eating in a wonderful French Vientiane bakery. It was glorious and expensive but a great little splurge.

Overnight train- Getting to the train was a bit of an adventure in itself. First we had to tuk tuk to the train station. Then take a 15 minute train ride over the Laos/Thai border, then board the train. Shaun had never done a train ride before so she was like a kid on Christmas. No, she was happier than we were on Christmas. That doesn't say much though as we were both sick on Christmas.

Anywho, the train cars were pretty cool and much more comfortable than my last overnight train experience in Europe. Sans the bathroom. The bathroom was gross. My last train experience involved 8 people in a tiny cabin and beds the size of coffins. There were various coping mechanisms involved in that trip, but I will say, there were no tears shed on my train last night. We got into Bangkok around 6am this morning. It's only noon now, but I feel like I've been up forever.

I'm pretty relieved that that was the last long leg of transportation of my trip. Those legs can be somewhat stressful. The next few days will be spent relaxing and enjoying the city before I head home on the 3rd.