Day 1: Road trip to Luang Prabang
-The day started with a early morning bike ride to ARDA to meet up with the gang and head out on our road trip. 10 hours is the approximated time of travel. Little was I expecting it to be all curves and turns. No exaggeration when I say that once we turned one corner there was literally another one awaiting. As we wound our way up and down the mountain there were numerous times we had to stop for those with motion sickness to stumble out of the van and relief their still spinning tummies. We would occasionally pass through a village with bamboo huts lining the roadside and fruit stands accompanied by smiling faces. Despite the nausea the view from the mountain was absolutely stunning.
Once we arrived in Luang Prabang we shuffled our tired selves through the brightly lit night market to scope out all the goodies before heading back to the LP ARDA campus to rest ourselves for the adventure that awaited the following day.
Day 2: Elephants, Rivers, and Waterfalls OH MY!
- Doom was his name. Doom the elephant. Rebecca and I sat upon a "throne" on his back that wiggled just a little more than he did. Such an exhilarating experience that will forever be unforgettable. After riding the giant creature we visited Koung Si Waterfall. I have never seen water so blue in my life. Absolutely gorgeous. We got to swim in the crystal waters of Koung Si right after hiking up the many layers of falls to see it.
Day 3: Kings Palace and Ban Pak Ou cave
- The Kings Palace (now turned into a museum) and Ban Pak Ou cave were more touristy than anything. I myself am not the kind of person who enjoys crowds of lost foreigners or a miniature caved decked out and painted. I'd rather sight-see the natural beauty of this world.
Day 4: Blue Lagoon swimming and Spelunking
- On our way back to Vientiane we stopped by Vang Vieng for a little spelunking around a REAL cave. Pitch black, darker than the devil himself. Not a thing could be seen without a flash light or headlamp and boy was I glad we had both. Not expecting it to be so legit I wore my flip-flops. Which just meant I had to be extra cautious with it being wet and slippery. It was so beautiful! We took a moment of silence deep inside the cave where we turned out the lights and stood still for a bit. All that was heard was the dripping of water off the stalactites dangling from the ceiling of the cave. Amazing.
Our vacation in a nutshell. To all of the gang, thanks for the memories.
