Luang Prabang, Laos

After all the oppressive heat that I've experienced here, I nearly froze to death on the bus ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. The bus goes up through the hillls/mountains (about 2000m I would guess) and it was a rainy day, but all the tourists and I were dressed for 35C and sun. After an hour of shivering, we all dug into our backpacks under the bus at the first pit stop for warmer clothes.

The drive was pretty windy (as you would expect in the hills), but it was paved the entire way. It's been a while since I've taken a long distance bus ride over dirt roads...

Left Dee behind in Vang Vieng, she has a bit more time than me and wanted to explore around a bit more. Met up with 3 other single travelers on the bus: Tommy (from Newfoundland), Raoul (a Dutch guy) and Mary (from Tasmania).

Mary is the first person I've met who's been to more countries than Gerry and I. Gerry is my friend that I traveled through Russia, Mongolia and China with about 7 years ago. In Russia, we met an english guy whose goal was to visit 100 countries in his lifetime. Gerry and I adopted his goal; but Gerry's always been ahead of me. Gerry is at 57 right now; Laos is number 55 for me. Mary's been to 59! and she's younger than me! For Gerry and me, it's a competition, Mary seemed somewhat disinterested in the number...

Got into Luang Prabang at dusk, so just had time to get guest houses and then meet for dinner. We ended up at different guest houses because the town's pretty full. Met for dinner and then drank the night away.

Finished the book I got from Dee, Adam and Eve and Pinch Me by Ruth Rendell. If anyone has read this book, can you please tell me how it ends? The copy I have (as warned by Dee) has the last two pages ripped out. I've just read that (and skip to the next paragraph if you don't want me to ruin it) Minty has knifed another person in her house, and then realized it wasn't a ghost.

Touristed around Luang Prabang today -- it's a beautiful little town, with a very European feel to it. It's a UNESCO protected site or whatever they do.

Anyways meeting up with the Tommy, Raoul and Mary in a few minutes for dinner, tomorrow we're going to rent motorbikes and see some of the sights around Luang Prabang. We've heard rumours that foreigners on bikes outside of town are stopped by police and fined (for riding bkies out of town), so we may end up just getting a tuktuk.