So....I think I'm a little bit behind. We've been in some pretty tiny places lately. The towns at times were small enough that they only had 4 hours of power at night, which was run by a town generator, let alone internet. (Although that was really only the case last week. The truth is that we've been so busy exploring that we just haven't had time, sorry). We're currently in Vietnam but let's go back a week or so to our time in Laos.

I'm not too sure what I expected of Laos, but it wasn't what I got. Every day in the country is like a day at the spa for your eyeballs. The place is gorgeous and has people to match. I'm not too sure why, possibly because Laos is so new to tourism, but there is a very common route that people do through Laos. You basically move as a pack on the same buses to the same places to see the same things. After about 10 days of this madness Jenn and I made one of the best decisions we've made on this trip. We decided not to take the suggested route of flying out of Laos but rather went by what ever kind of transport we could find. We started doing some research into the border crossing in the North of Laos. Crossing in the North meant somehow getting the 24hour distance to the border, crossing the border which may or may not be open to tourists, and then getting the 16 hours up the Hanoi by transport which was rumoured to be non-existent. All these variables are what make most people fly but it's exactly what told Jenn and I we had to try. Luckily we met four people who had the same crazy idea as us so off we went. The first day started by jumping on a local bus and taking it to a random town. We basically jumped on and asked the bus driver to let us off half way. (we did this just to get out of the tourist bubble for a day before starting the trek to the border). When I got into this tiny town, I realized that what we'd been seeing wasn't really Laos. The Laos markets and food we'd been going to were more of a Laos-tourist market and food. The market in Phou Khoum (the random tiny town) went like this. On one side were tables lined with the most random fruits I've ever seen. Weird colors, shapes and sizes. We acted like Noah, took two of each and kept walking. The next station was the everything station. This means the store that carries everything from a drill to kids toys to shoes to camouflage clothing. It looks the exact same as every other store in the town yet has totallly different assortement of randomness. The next and best row is the meat row(or wild game row). These are tables with dead animals (supposedly hunted that day but looking like last weeks road kill) lying in fixed positions with the proud hunter stroking it like it was an alive house pet. Jenn and I walked through ans didn't recognize a single animal. The next stall was the game from the previous table but it was cut up and cooked. We have a rule that we try a new unknown piece of food every day. Not too sure why, but the cooked wild game table drew us in. We ate something (we have it written down in Laos so that we can check it when we get home) and we're excited to one day find out what it was.

The next day we made it by hired mini-bus to Vieng Xai stopping in many minority villages that clearly don't have tourist. It was fascinating to stop in places where the whole village would come out to stare at us staring at them. We stayed in Vieng Xai for two nights and then left for the border on the very special day, Nov. 25th. My Birthday!

Jenn made sure to make it a day I will not forget. I woke up at 6am to a room decorated with toilet paper and balloons (we have to go on a toilet paper hunt soon cause she had a little too much fun with our two rolls). We then sang me happy birthday and set off on our adventure to get to Vietnam from Laos. We had talked to a few more people and the average of people who said the border crossing was open was looking a little more promising. Things weren't lookign good when the daily "bus", a small pick up truck, to the town near the border was full (with locals) and could'nt fit anymore people. Somehow we managed to score a sweet mini van to take us for only 3$ instead. It was a gorgeous two hour comfy ride. There were whole waterbuffalos nicely chopped up for sale on the side of the road (Jenn was going to buy me the head but we ddn't know how we'd carry it), kids getting ready for school in the nearby stream and men hacking away at bamboo to fix their house. It really was something else. We got to the border and whoopee, it was open! Crossed with no problems and to our luck, there was a bus waiting at the border from Na Meow to Hanoi! No joke! It comes Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and we just happened to pick the right day. Super lucky because Na Meow is not the best town to be stranded in. There's no food, no rooms, and some not so nice people. The 8 hour bus ride turned into a 12 hour bus ride with crazy, and I mean crazy, local Vietnamese people with their chickens, ducks, rice bags, barf bags and plants all squished on the bus with us. Locals pushed in beside us, over us and shoved their bags underneath us. Others slept in the aisle and all of them made sure they were yelling to each other as loudly as possible. The last 4 hours were spent on the thrid bus of the trip speeding down the freeqway listening to the drivers choice of techno music. With my birthday balloons on my bag and a giddy Jen, it was the perfect ending to possibly the longest day ever! By the time we arrived in Hanoi we'd been travelling and eating roadside food for 19 hours. With our bags off our backs we went straight to the first bar we saw (half man, half noodle)for a birthday drink.

We've now been in the North for about a week and are heading down south just on time to catch the hurricane. The weather here has turned very cool and cloudy in the past few days and we're hoping it'll pick up a little before Jenn heads home. Like Laos, Vietnam isn't quite as I expected either. There's a strong presence of their history here and the people seem quite hardened because of it. Of all the countries we've been to, this is the first that couldn't care less for tourist. They short change you at every opportunity they get and instead of responding when you say hi to them, they either sneer, laugh or say nothign at all. Of course there is an exception to every rule and we have met a few gems too. The country however is just as beautiful as I had hoped. We've spent a lot of time in the hills bush wacking, crossing muddy rice fields, climbing up and down, running away from territorial dogs, chasing pigs, scrambling through thick forest, dodging waterbuffalo on our motorbikes and dreaming of Christmas. These last two weeks of exploring are going to go by all to quick. Onto Hoi An tonight and then back to finish up in Halong Bay.

Time sure flies when you're having fun.