waiting for a bus

we were just on a 9 hr 45 min bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vientiene and now we get to be on an 11 hr bus ride to Pakse. YEAH! the first one wasn't so bad even with the super curvasious road b/c i took a dramamine and had barely slept the night before. unfortunately the little boy monk sitting in front of me had forgotten to take his dramamine (if monks can even take it) and was quite ill the whole ride. poor thing. he had his robe wrapped around his head the whole time. but luckily the bus didn't break down this time so we made it almost on time.
this ride will take us to pakse where we will get on yet anohter bus to go to the 4 thousand islands region of the mekong river delta. were going stay on don khong island and probably rent a scooter to ride around it. we might have to stay there longer than the 2 days we had planned b/c we need to get the visas into cambodia and assumed we could get them at the border with laos but we all know where assuming gets you. the book says there are no places to get cambodian visas over land from laos. humph.
luang prabang was great. we met a couple people to hang out with and went to a wat xieng thong and walked up phousi hill and of course hit the night market for some good deals! the 2nd whole day we were there my tummy wasnt feeling quite up to par so i skipped the waterfall and slept instead. beard went up with the crew and had a great time, saw bears, and amazingly enough, didn't get hurt.
im not sure how the internet situation is down south so i don't know when ill be updating again.

I DID NOT HIT NOR KILL A MANATEE

now that we have that out of the way.
we are now in luang prabang laos. very nice place. unesco heritage site. on the mekong river. got here after breaking down not once but twice. first time a tire popped and the second time might have been somethign with the transmission. a different bus picked us up and took us into town. instantly hounded by tuk tuk drivers and guest house peddlers. after the long winding ride we accepted the first guy's offer of a double room with fan and private bathroom for 4 bucks. however, now that weve been downtown we realize we probably could have gotten a nicer room for just as much. meh. were fine where we are. we rented bicycles today and rode by the mekong river and through the town. changed some money--took a LONG time and now we each have a HUGE stack of 2000 kip bills. 2000 kip is about 20 cents a beer is 8000-10000 kip.
tomorrow were going to waterfall and perhaps a cave...
in vang vieng christa and i went tubing in a cave. it was freaky at first, then ok, then freaky again b/c my light went out and christa thought it would be oh so funny to push me away, then fun b/c the guy towed ch and i so we didnt have to paddle with our arms, then tiring b/c he quit towing us, then fun b/c the current brought us back.
nap time

thailand

right now were in kantharalak, visiting with a friend beard's mom went to high school with. he has a nice house in the country with cows and ponds and kids. before this we were on the island of koh tao where i did 3 dives and beard did 6. met a nice irish couple there and had drinks on the beach after eating at an indian restaruant. then cam e the marathon tour north. one hr twenty minute boat ride to champorn, 7 hr bus ride to bangkok, 9 hr bus ride to here. got here at 7am this morning. les, ya and their kids, ben, jackie and tony picked us up, brought us to breakfast and then we came out to their farm. nice and relaxing. well spend tonight and probably tomorrow night here and then take off to perhaps vang vieng laos. do some tubing, check out luang probang and then back south to cambodia. we're trying to pick the best way now b/c we are really close to angkor wat cambodia right now, about 150km.
i thought this area would be a lot different from korea/the us/what i'm used to but it's really not. a bit more run down but not in a bad way. people smile a lot more in thailand. happy people must live here. it's more relaxed than korea and of course eating and drinking is cheaper. most of our meals come to between 3 and 5 dollars together. the dives were 20 bucks a piece. our bungalow was 8.
koh tao was wonderful. although much more touristy than we expected but you'll have that. outside our bungalow there were 2 roosters, several hens, 7 puppies and who knows how many other dogs. the puppies were the cutest things ever, til about 6am when they started whining. the food was great--lots of curries and noodle dishes.
i can't upload pictures here b/c itd take too long so i'll do that later.