Loas

The S is silent, so its pronounced Lao. The French screwed everything up adding that S.

We took a bus from Hanoi to the capital city, Vientiane. Everyone we talked to had horror stories about this 22 hour bus ride. We looked at flying, but it was way too much money. SO we bought lots of food, charged all our toys and made sure we had sleeping pills and gravol.

We arrived at the Vietnam - Laos border at about 6.30am, after 12 hours of being on the bus. We had to get stamped to leave the country, and then walk to the entry to Laos. This is where Denise realized that she had left her passport at the hotel in Hanoi. She handled it so calmly, whereas Leesa and Romi were pretty sure that they would be having a nervous breakdown. Anyway, Denise left with our guide from the bus and then we just assumed she got back on the bus to Hanoi. Turns out she just stayed at the border in a sketchy communist hotel, called Beth and Mike who were still in Hanoi, and had them bring her passport for her when they came through the border. Leesa, Romi and I continued on to Vientiane and just hoped that it would all work out. It did, we met up with Denise last night, 24 hours after we left her.

Our bus ride was not that bad at all. Beth and Mike were not so lucky. Their bus was smuggling opium through the border, and everyone on the bus was smoking opium. But I am sure that they are ok now that we are all in Vientiane because it is such a beautiful city. This is my favorite place so far. It is so laid back and chill. Unlike Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, no one harasses us to buy jewelery or to hire a tuk tuk. Its very refreshing and we are loving it. We celebrated the end of the bus ride by drinking way too much at a martini bar. Then yesterday we found a spa and got massages and pedicures. Life's rough but someone has to live it.

Tomorrow we head to Veng Viane. where there is river tubing and caves to explore. Almost everyone I know that has been here said its their favourite place in SE Asia, and I can see why.