Even More Photos

Making mud bricks at an organic farm near Vang Vieng. After all this relaxing I was actually itching to do some manual labor.

Vang Vieng, Laos, one of my favorite places so far. I ended up staying there for 8 days.

Typical scenery of Southern Laos

One of the absolute best days I have had was in the 4000 islands in Laos. Its in the middle of the Mekong River at the very Southern tip of the country, and one of the most relaxing places I've ever been. A group of us signed up for a 1 day "trek" - the word is used very liberally here - which consisted of a half hour boat ride, half an hour of walking, swimming, and a BBQ. We went to one of the island that had recently been opened to tourists, so it was all locals and no tourists except ourselves. We were joined by 4 local kids, and it was their presence that made the day. At first they were shy, but once they got comfortable with us they totally came out of their shells. We spend the day swimming, eating and playing games, even though the only English they knew was "one, two, three, four, five." Not even hello. It was so much fun, and all of us agreed it was one of the best days we have had so far.

Ellen playing Rock Scissors Paper with one of the girls.