fly far: in laos

bangkok was a blast, hectic & smelly with lots to do.

we shopped, ate well and not so well and mostly just walked a ton.

pictures are more fun than words, so here you go:

taking a rest after walking through the weekend market

with our new friend manoush, he loved dekel

me & dan at shoshana's restaurant near khao san street

yes, we have red, white & blue matching shirts

shopping & bargaining at mbk mall

with my new feather earrings & new coconut-scented fan

hugging like the little salt & pepper shakers

celebrating dek's birthday!

dek's almost-too-spicy to eat birthday meal

we ate literally ON the street

mom getting some fresh pomegranate juice

hugs after a great foot massage

on the train on our way to laos

the train

view from the train

shack roofs

shacks near the railroad

now, dekel & i are in laos.

we arrived to vientiane on the 8th and checked into a nasty backpacker hostel.

we went straight to get a lao beer and then we walked around the night market.

the hostel was so nasty we checked out the next morning and just found another place close by for 1 more night. that day we rented an automatic motorbike and set off to go see the buddha park. it was about 40 minutes away from the city centre, but it was so fun to drive through the local villages and see little school kids waving as you pass. the park itself was amazing, with different statues everywhere. after we walked through the park (it's not that big) we stopped at a little shack thing to eat, we wanted to feel "local." the place didnt even have a menu and that should have been the red flag. there was a nice man eating there that told the lady that we wanted what he was having i guess, because she brought out a plate of lettuce, lime and sprouts, which i thought were to make lettuce wraps, but then she brought our a bowl of soup which looked questionable. it had noodles in it and like meat-looking things and eyeball-looking things. i dont even know what all that stuff was. i didnt eat mine, i was content with lettuce wraps. after that we went to shower and have dinner.

the next day we took a bus to vang vieng.

we are here now and its beautiful beyond words. the mountains in the clouds, the smiles on the locals faces, the lush greenery everywhere. we are here for 5 nights, we are staying in cute, little bungalows. today we rented bikes and biked around the town and down dirt paths. we also went to explore a cave and then climbed a mountain to see the panoramic view of vang viene & it was a rough climb (i have a banged up knee to prove it) but the view was well worth it.

here are some photos from the last 2 days:

@ the buddha park