We finally made it to Laos (we're in Luang Prabang). It was a long journey which started with an extra day in Chiang Rai while we waited for D and T (Dean and Tamara) to catch up. Then the next day we made it into Laos but we were an hour late for the slow boat of the day. In retrospect we should have spent the night on the Thailand side of the border but what can you do. Then the slow boat. It was 2 days with a bunch of westerners on a big wooden boat that went slowly down the Mekong. Everyone awkwardly tried to play cards in the aisles. But now we know a ton of people who are here in town. And we still love D and T.

Laos is different. Last night Maeve and I were drinking Beerlao (v. v. good) and chatting with this guy who had been on the boat. Maeve mentioned the lack of ATMs in the country and he was like, "yeah, I haven't seen any yet". He had no idea that there was no international banking in this whole country. We downplayed our shock and changed the subject. I guess it's people like that who get malaria. We laughed really hard when he left. Hysterical.

Our budget is 260000 kip a day (for the 2 of us). We have these huge wads of cash. Deflation is a bitch.

We are on our way to a temple on a hill but it started to sprinkle so we popped in here. Modesty in dress is important here. I don't really know how important or what Laos people think of foreigners. But there are all of these western girls who walk around wearing short shorts and small tank tops and it seems like they don't realize that it's likely really offensive to the local people here. Laos women do seem "less shy" than Thai women ("shy" is how a Thai person would explain a Thai woman's modesty). They seem to be louder and to actually drink alchohol. It's illegal in Laos for a foreigner to have any kind of sex with a Laos person. And there is a government law that foreigners must be in their guesthouses by midnight.