Laos

With everything in constant flux on the road, you accumulate knowledge of a country slowly and at times take this information for granted. Transitioning to Laos from Thailand reminded us of how beginnings are always harder. The first week felt like starting the trip over...how much should things cost, how to communicate the very basics like "toilet" and "i don't eat meat", etc... Within a week, we were feeling a bit more competent and falling for this beautiful and peaceful country.

Less people in Laos means less pollution and that the rural population, although very poor, are for the most part self-sufficient. Having enough land to grow a garden and catch fish in the nearby river, means there is enough to go around (or so it appeared to us). We didn't sense the same huge gap between the classes as in Thailand. Of course there is inequality, like in all countries. Women appeared to work twice as hard as men everywhere we looked, and the Lao men we spoke to didn't deny it. The hill tribe villages we visited lacked clean water sources and basic health care. But the peacefulness of the Lao life was contagious.

Some highlights included: the dramatic mountainous landscape in the northern and central parts of Laos; the two day trek visiting several hill tribe villages; meeting some great fellow backpackers and spending several days traveling together; and a beautiful boat ride we took down the Nam Ou river before arriving in Luang Prabang.

A few surreal moments including an English guy crashing his motorcycle into the minivan we were traveling in (fortunately, the worst damage was to the minivan...the English guy amazingly walked away with a few scrapes); seeing a teenage boy, far from any medical care, with parts of his hands blown off from dissembling an old grenade (which kids do to sell the scrap metal); women with babies strapped to their back harvesting rice on steep mountain terrain and then carrying a 50 kilo bag of rice up to their village...all of this done in flip flops.

All in all, Laos charmed us and left us feeling sad to leave. We had to cut our trip short a few days due to Francois needing medical care. So we headed off to Cambodia missing Laos already as we crossed the border.