On the 17th of July as we arrived at the border of Thailand I saw typical Thai long tailed boats on the river shore for crossing the Mekong River to Laos. I couldn't help it wonder if that is the boat that will take me to the other side of the river when I saw it loaded with backpacks. I thought there is no way we'll arrive dry in Laos. So I went to the immigration officer to get my stamp and returned to riverside. When I came back I saw my friends already sitting in a boat fully loaded leaving no space for me. Damn it I have to go through this alone. I slowly put one foot in the boat, followed by the other one and sat quietly till we started to slowly float away from the shore. Than suddenly the boatman started his engine and gave it full power. In less than 5 minutes we were at the other side off the River. The girls awaited me there and welcomed me to Laos.
We took a tuk tuk which took us to another river port. We got out of the tuk tuk and walked for another 2 minutes before we spotted a row of typical Southeast Asian river boats. They were long and slender with a dilapidated cabin built on the hull of the boat. The so called slow boat was the boat that we had to take to Luang Prabang. So I managed to walk through the slippery ground of Laos reaching the boat. A couple of Laotians took my backpack and helped me get on board.

I quickly tried to find a seat. But all the good ones were already taking. The best we could get was a narrow wooden seat with a back forcing us to sit in an up straight position. For a long time there was no sitting in this position for me but now I had no choice and would have to deal with it 8 hours. All on board! The boat started running over the Mekong River. The water was brownish and there were a lot of wood floating in it. I could see all the houses and huts getting smaller and smaller till they disappeared bringing me a more beautiful view on the nature of Laos. The combination of the brownish river and the green grass and threes totally dragged me to another world while listening to Andrea Bocelli on my MP3 player. I sat there and stare at the mountain framed by densely forest hills as I disappeared in my own thoughts. The beauty of the nature in Laos in breathtaking. Small villages with wooden houses on stilts and populations supporting itself by working in the surrounded fields were to be spotted. Would I ever survive such lifestyle? I dare not to answer my own question.  I decided to start writing in my diary and socialized a little bit. Getting to know some people on the boat. The captain stopped at the river shore for a couple of minutes allowing children on board to sell drinks and snacks before we continued. It wasn't the only stop. We made some other stops as well to pick up bags containing I have no idea what. I chose no to think too much but hey what an ideal way to do business.

After hours of running we finally arrived at this little village called Pak Beng. We stay here for the night to continue our trip to Luang Prabang the next morning. We got out of the boat. Sharay and Mya went looking for a guesthouse while Michella and I waited for the crew to get our backpack from the hull. They returned and together we walked to the guesthouse where we left our backpacks and went directly to a restaurant. At the restaurant we ordered some food and soon realized that waitress is the cook. She had to go to the market across the street to buy the rice and chicken. A man came walking from a narrow lane to help cooking. In the meanwhile a boy brought the vegetables. In no time my meal was served and good. One other girl had to wait way too long. I think se ordered something that's probably difficult to find. After dinner we went for a walk in the village, talking to locals, taking pictures and checking out other guesthouses. At one of the guesthouses they told us that there will be no electricity after 22:30. Whole Pak Beng will be dark. So we made sure we were inside by that time. I was sharing a room with Mya. While the other girls were already sleeping Mya and I sat and wait for 22:30. At 22:45 still nothing happened. The bar across the street was playing loud music and I could here people talking. So we gave up and went to sleep after a whole lot a laughing and waiting. At exactly 23:00 o'clock I heard the sound of nothing. Undescribable, like everything stopped. The room was quiet, the fan stopped working. And than it all started again. Light! music! and our fan started to spin slowly again. Followed by another sudden quietness and total darkness. Than I whispered Mya's name and she bursted in laugh taking me along. It was clear, a rolling blackout in response to insufficient resources and inability to meet prevailing demand for electricity. So that night we slept peacefully with no fan at all.

The next morning we boarded the boat early to continue our journey to Luang Prabang. This time we took a somewhat smaller boat that was running in a misbalance all the time. I thought that the boat could capsize at any time. It felt like one side of the boat was way too heavy. I could almost touch the water with my fingers. But I sat there calmly on the same narrow wooden seats and read my Dalai Lama book, talked with some people, listen to my mp3 and try not to feel the pain in my buttocks. After another 8 hours of sailing we arrived Luang Prabang. We had no idea where to stay at all. Normally we are all well prepared with Thailands Lonely Planet where we often look up our guest houses. But we didn't really have one for Laos. So we decided that our only option is to start walking till we find something. We didn’t walk for even one minute when we heard; Hey Girls! And there was Ander. The Spanish photographer we met in Pai and Chiang Rai. He knew we were coming so he arranged a place to stay for us at the same guesthouse where he stayed. We had no idea how he knew we were coming to Luan Prabang at that time. Cause there were more boats arriving that day so it is pure coincidence. And since I don't believe in coincidence. What would it be??

That night in Luang Prabang we had dinner with a group of the boat. We walked through the streets of Luang Prabang till we found a decent restaurant that could fit the seventeenth of us. The group consisted of people from everywhere. It was an ideal way to get to know each other better and learn about other countries and culture. After dinner we went to a bar to have a couple of beers. Ander took a tuk tuk to the guesthouse because he was a bit tired of the day. After one king-size Beerlao for me we decided to go to the guesthouse. We had no idea where we were heading so we took a tuk tuk to the guesthouse which was written on the key holder. When we arrived we already had the feeling that we were at the wrong place. But we gave it the benefit of the doubt and went inside. The owner of the guesthouse was already snoring on the ground covered by his mosquito net. We walked inside and were sure that we had the wrong place. Outside we decided to walk till we recognize something. And there in the middle of the street he stood, right when he needed him. Ander! Are you girls lost he yelled. Somehow we are connected with him and like somehow he knows we need help. Ander always knows to find us when we really need help. Michella calls him the angel from above. I didn't give it a name yet. But since I don't believe in such thing as coincidence I go for the paranormal explanation. I still have to figure out.
So we enjoyed our days in Luang Prabang to the fullest. One day we woke up at 5 o' clock in the morning to see the monks collecting alms. The road was full with people sitting on the sidewalk with their bowl of rice waiting for the 400 monks to pass with their bowl to collect. Outside the guesthouse. Me still in my 'pajamas' a woman came running to us with banana leaves containing rice and a bowl of cookies. She said hurry....the monks are coming. So we ran outside and yes they were already coming. We got on our knees and gave each and every monk what we had while making a small bow. I was wearing a short not covering my knees, so I could feel the little stones of the streets pricking my knees. But I hold on bearing the pain and continued giving to the monks. After all I had a good feeling about being part of this daily ritual.

We also visited a big waterfall in Luang Prabang which is amongst my favorites. The water was cold and rough but it didn't keep us from jumping in it. Back to the city in our tuk tuk we enjoyed the Lao nature and small villages and cows on the roadside. The next day we traveled to the famous backpacker’s town of Vang Vieng. When we got there we stayed at Amicable Guesthouse which is one of my worst guesthouse experiences ever. I shared room with Michella this time, which has a great ability to imagine things. While I was taking a shower she decided to lift my mattress where to her surprise she saw a big dark hole underneath of it. When I got out of the shower she told me about her discovery and also added to the fact that it is probably the ideal place for snakes and spiders to stay before they come out at night to find their prey. Me helpless and coward started imagine a lot of things not worth describing. That night we slept with the lights on to make sure nothing will come from underneath grave looking beds. In the morning I couldn't wait to see what there was underneath. So I got my flashlight and together with Michella we lifted the mattress and there it was. Not a snake nor a spider but a plastic bag containing marihuana. My heart started to beat and I thought WHAT IF. Well, no matter what if, cause IF, we would be in serious problem. We didn't know what to do. Nothing seemed to be a good idea. How would we start explaining to anyone not to even mention the police with this language barrier?  Sometimes it is even difficult to explain the simplest things. We had no choice to be brave, not tell anyone about it and behave well till we left Van vieng. It has never been such a relief to leave.

Because of the rain in Vang Vieng we couldn't do much. There was no tubing and visiting caves because of the high risk of danger in the rainy season. So we spend our days chilling at the restaurant lying on the cushions and watching Friends. The typical Vang Vieng thing. We decided to go to Vientiane which is the capital city of Laos.
In the bus to Vientiane all the seats in the front were taken. So we had to sit in the back. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a scooter in the bus. Was there no other choice?? No obviously there wasn't. I had to jump over the scooter while wearing a skirt to get to the backseats like it is the most normal thing. So I behaved that way. On our way to Vientiane we made two stops. The first one was a pee stop. A bunch of man got out to pee including a kid and than I saw an old woman lifting her skirt to pee. I’m like…what’s this but it seem to be another normal thing. The next stop was to wait until they were done fixing the road. We got out of the bus and some little girls was starring at me like where the hell does she come from. They were so cute. So I waved at them and they started to laugh and got all excited. Back on the bus, jumping over the scooter again to reach my seat, we continued our journey to Vientiane where there was no guesthouse available. After a lot of walking a tuk tuk driver brought us to one which was more expensive than what we normally would pay but we were happy. At night we had dinner on the riverside. It suddenly got stormy and the tent almost flew away. So we quickly made our escape to the guesthouse. When we got there we sat outside and ate boiled peanuts and talked with the guys that worked there.

The next day we were moving again, crossing the border back to Thailand to continue to Cambodia which made the most impact on me since traveling. The people of Cambodia have been through hard times since the Khmer Rouge took over the city in 1975 causing mass murders and starvation. It is still fresh in their mind, as I talked to many people I could still see the pain in their eyes. ‘How could our own people betray us like this?’ one of them said………….