On to the next one, on to the next one....to Bali we go

Today is our last full day in Luang Prabang.  Its hot and humid here but its a cute little town so we've been exploring despite the heat.  Its a very obviously old French town.  so much french architecture and food.  The slow boat was good.  The first day we got to the boat and got a seat.  we thought everyone was on, the boat was about 75% full and then they loaded about 50 more people on.  The boat was Crammed.  There were people sitting in the aisles, on plastic chairs, and maybe even their luggage.  It was the only boat going out of Thailand that day so I'm assuming they just wanted to get as many people as possible.  It was not the best.  The slow boat is supposed to be a slow ride down the Mekong river just seeing the sights and relaxing.  It was not that.  there were about 30 drunk English 18-20 year olds on our boat singing and being obnoxious.  I was not impressed.  To say it put a damper on my experience is an understatement.  The next day I was expecting much of the same, but to our luck they had two smaller boats.  Most of the kids got on one boat and we almost RAN to the other boat.  It was so much better of a trip.  The boat was quiet and we got the experience we wanted.  We even saw elephants!!

We arrived in Luang Prabang and got a hotel and have just been exploring town ever since.  We rented bicicyles and road around yesterday and today we climbed up to a temple on the top of a mountain.  I am glad we stayed here for a few days, but will be ready to leave tomorrow.  There's not much to see here so its time to move on. We will have some big days of travel.  Flying to Vientienne, the capital of Laos tomorrow to catch the night train to Bangkok.  We will explore BKK on Sunday and then we fly to Bali monday.  Hopefully Bali is good, its rainy season and the weather is predicted as rain every day.  I hope thats not the reality b/c i would love to get a day or two of beach time before we head inland.

That's it for now.  Happy almost birthday to Helen and Brendo!!