Laos

Laos has some of the most beautiful, untouched land in the world. We spent 2 days on the Mekong River in a slow boat.

InLuamprahbang we waited for a huge school of monks at 6am to gain merit by giving sticky rice a handfull at a time. Most monks go get their morning food in small groups or on their own, but in Luamprahbang they have it organized for the community in the same area and there are so many monks and novices! It was a wonderful stream of orange robes coming from the temple.

One of my favorite places in Southeast Asia are the hilltribe villages. We visited one for a very short time in Laos and I loved it. All the children came out and tried to sell us home made goods. The way of life is so simple there and many of the customs and culture of the people are very different from the main body of people in the country, yet they are only a few miles away. Also....the little girls must be so tough carrying around babies on their backs all day!

There are so many more great things to tell, but I think I'll end with the elephants. All day I kept saying how I wanted to see elephants one last time before I left for home. We were at some amazing waterfalls and out of nowhere come some elephants to take a bath! After they were all clean we got to play with them and feed them. It was definately a wish come true, they are so awesome!