Done With Kip, Back To Baht.

I'm not sure how it happened, but it's already been a week since I left Suphan. It was a sad good-bye, but I have Jenny and Katie P. as my traveling companions and we're meeting up with a couple others for the final beaching part of the trip, so I got to put off most of my final farewells for a couple weeks. I've been trying to convince everyone to come home with me and live in the basement (Mom and Dad, we'll talk later), but they keep saying things like "crime" and "drugs" and "don't a lot of people get shot there?". I'm kind of disappointed in them, I thought they were hardier than that.

So I suppose I'll just have to cling to what little time we have left. We've definitely been making the most of it. Our first destination was Laos and, sadly, we had to race through it. We spent a couple days in Vang Vieng and our main activity was Tubing. This wasn't regular tubing and so deserves capitalization. There are a bunch of bars lined up along the (big, fast moving, rock-laden) river. You rent a tube and float from bar to bar where they throw you line, reel you in and ply you with free whiskey. There are zip lines and high swings (I was the only one to do the high swing because I am the coolest and most fearless of us all) and an underlying sense of danger. We managed to make it through relatively unwounded.

If you think the Tubing was exciting, wait until you hear about how we spent our nights. Restaurants and bars in Laos are all centered around one thing - television. And the only shows on are Friends, Family Guy, and occasionally soccer. So it turns out I found my heaven, and it happens to be in a tiny developing country in Southeast Asia. Who knew? Because we spent a lot of our time in Laos traveling, watching t.v. and drinking fruit shakes was as much activity as we could handle. At first we disagreed on where to go ("I want to watch Friends", "But I feel like Family Guy", "Look, soccer!) but we quickly came up with an excellent solution. So we spent the nights bar-hopping from show to show, ordering shakes and baguettes and cheese at each one (Laos was lucky enough to be colonized by the French and, though it's independent now, we can still enjoy the culinary heritage).

After Vang Vieng, we spent a day in Luang Prabang, which was quaint and had equally delicious food, and then it was time to head back to Thailand. I would have liked to spend at least a few more days in Laos, but I was also a little relieved to be back. I was very much a tourist in Laos and, while I had a great time, it was a little unsettling. In Thailand I don't have to worry about converting money (I never got a handle on the Laos Kip), basic communication, or getting scammed. Not to mention, Thailand is still the cheapest country ever.

So now I'm in Pai, a tiny little town in the northwest. Everything about Pai is relaxed and slightly New-Agey. I didn't think it was possible for people in Thailand to be friendlier, but the people in Pai have managed it. We spent a day white water rafting and cliff jumping. The cliffs weren't too high, only about 8 meters (which, thanks to my American education I know is somewhere between 10 and 50 feet) but high enough that even I, with all of my daring and fearlessness, hesitated. It was my first time rafting, but I think I carried my weight. I suppose I'm just a natural at everything I do.

We have one more day here and then we leave tomorrow for a few days in Chiang Mai. We don't have any particular plans, so I expect we'll just do whatever catches our attention. Probably something shiny and sparkly. For now I'm going to read my book, drink coffee, and count how many people with dreads walk by.