Oh, Laos

Sa-bai-deeee!!!

Okay, so we only have about 10-15 minutes of internet time left so I will try to type my little fingers off as fast as I can and share about our experiences in Laos thus far :)

Took a 10 hour (10 HOUR!) bus ride from Hanoi through the mountains to the Lao border... which is ontop of a mountain go figure, and once again, the difference between the countries is night and day. The people of Lao are maybe the friendliest and most welcoming we've encoutered thus far on the trip and the landscape is breathtaking. Picture ridiculously high mountains... upon mountains.. upon mountains surrounded with lush, deep green jungle, so dense you can't see a break in it anywhere. Beautiful.

I read that as early as 1997, Lao had an inflation rate of 100% and their currency (the kip) depreciated by 500%! Since then, the Lao governement has been promoting a "Tour Lao" program from tourists to help give the country the economic boost it needed. I think that may be a big reason why the people are so happy to see foreigners, everywhere they go you get "Sabaidee!!" (hello) and smiles.

The people here are mainly Buddhist and look almost like South Americans. We spent last night in a small border town in the mountains called Lak Sao, and it was freakin freeeeezing! Took a 4 hour bus ride today to the capital, Vientiane (Weng-Chan), and spent the afternoon strolling the colonial style streets and meandering along the desert-style sand dunes of the Mekong River.

TONS of cats and dogs here, which I just can't help coo'ing at (it's driving Jesse slightly.. okay, more than slightly crazy), but they're just so darn cute! Lots of cattle (cows and buffalo) wandering the countryside, along with roosters, chickens, goats and miniature pigs (*squeal*!!).

On our last few days in Vietnam we saw some not so nice treatment of some very familiar animals so it definitely feels good to be back in a majority Buddhist country where the people, animals and wildlife live in Harmony.

I feel as though our perspectives of Life here have changed a bit since we first toured through Cambodia. I remember we drove through the Cambodian country-side, thinking how "poor" the people were... "shanty" houses, bare feet, animals everywhere, working their butts off in the hot sun, trying to make a dollar; and believe me, by our Canadian standards, the people are poor, but I wouldn't use that word anymore. When it comes to quality of Life, the people we've seen in the Cambodian and Loa country are actually rich- They have their families, they have homes, they have smiles on their faces, a pet dog at their feet, food on their tables and fresh water sources. I don't know exactlky what I'm trying to say, but the people are inspriring and make me think about all the things we have at home that we just simply don't really need... it's fantastic.

2 minutes, must run! Onto Vang Vieng tomorrow, much Love to you all.
Muah- Muah!

Misty & Jesse