Serenity

We had to get out of town after our tubing adventures, and hopped on a mini bus to Luang Prabang the next day. The ride was several hours on a very bumpy and winding road. I guess the upside was that there were only 4 people on our bus. Ana and I both took a row of seats to ourselves so we could lay down and try to imagine we weren't actually riding the Grizzly at Great America for 6 hours straight.

When we got to town, it was quiet. The streets weren't full of rowdy drunkards. The greenery, and flowers, and nice restaurants and guesthouses and bookstores and art galleries allowed us to feel at peace with ourselves and our surroundings.

My favorite part of our stay in Luang Prabang was going to the waterfall park. I love the water. I think it's a Pisces thing. We took a gentle hike and ended up here:

I've always wanted  jump off of a waterfall, and I finally got to do so in Luang Prabang. So much fun!

There was also this temple at the very top of the hill not too far from our guesthouse that we would always see in the daytime, and also lit up at night. We had to climb a lot of stairs to get to the top, and were dripping sweat by the time we got there. We wanted to watch the sunset at the temple, but it was cloudy so we didn't get much of a scenic view. It was enjoyable to explore nonetheless.

Our original plan was to spend 2 nights in Luang Prabang, bus back to Vang Vieng and spend 1 more night there before heading back to Vientiane the next day to pick up our passports. The point of that plan was to avoid an uncomfortable, 10-hour bus ride from Luang Prabang to Vientiane. But the truth was, we never wanted to go back to Vang Vieng ever again. Ever. So we stayed an extra night in Luang Prabang and settled with the 10-hour bus ride.

Ana and I were both rather silent on the ride back. Perhaps we were both too busy internally lamenting over the hours and hours we had left on the bus. We felt like we had been away from Nong Khai for so long. I stared out of the window into the jungle and the scattered, remote towns of huts on stilts. I found myself thinking about what it would be like to grow up in such surroundings, and kept wondering if they knew what else was out there, or if they would stay there all their lives. It was quite common for us to see cows, pigs, roosters, and other farm animals and livestock on the road during the drive. Despite the audible sound of people throwing up while suffering from motion sickness on the winding roads, and the fact that we were sitting on a bus for more hours than an average person's work day, I still think it was worth it to spend one more day in this beautiful town.