Luang Prabang

This past week was Lao New Year break and was a much needed vaca from the busy-ness of teaching.

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.

conquering fears, or rather just killing them...

Imagine yourself taking a nice cool shower after an amazing blood-pumping workout in the heat of the afternoon. One of the best feelings in the world right? Most definitely! That was the beginning of my magnificent morning, despite the fact that my incredible shower was cut short by a visitor... a large winged creature crawling out from the drain. COCKROACH! My mind was racing. The shower is so small I didn't know whether to risk opening the door and be forced even closer to the little devil or jump onto the toilet. I took the risk, one way or another I wasn't going to have that thing in the same room with me... alive. I hugged the door as close as it would get and quickly jumped to the other side. Horrified and nearly slipping on the wet tiles (there was no way I'd waste precious cockroach killing time to dry off) I raced to the pantry for the "roach remover" (a very large pan). Mustering up enough strength... and courage to kill the darned thing I stood at the outside of the bathroom watching as it moved around its little feelers contemplating its next move. Praying for enough uuumph to send him to hell where he belonged I laid the pan smack dab on his tiny behind. 3 times. This being my second successful murder of a cockroach-> Kelsea: 2 Cockroach's: 0