First day Backpacking

View of Luang Prabang
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Well, I'm off on my travels.  I'm now an official backpacker.

Friday, my last day was tough - so many good byes, followed by a border crossing, and then a 10hr bus ride to Luang Prabang.  I was supposed to travel with another volunteer, but do to some complications she wasn't able to go traveling.  I made the mistake of crossing the border a little too late, 4p, so when I arrived in Vientienne all the money exchange places were closed.  Luckily I sold some books before leaving Thailand, so had JUST enough money for a bus ticket to Luang Prabang and a tuk-tuk ride once there.

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I got the "great" idea to take the night bus to LP, and it was not fun for 10hours.  I didn't take into consideration how bumpy and windy the roads would be, even I who can sleep anywhere was having trouble as my head would crash into the window every time I started to drift off.  I also learned I do have my limits (who knew!), and peeing in a field in the dark with a bunch of strangers and in front of a bus is one of them.  Even though it was a 10hr bus ride, I couldn't bring myself to get off the bus.  Luckily the next place we stopped after a few hours time had a restroom (or at least a shack out back with a squat toilet - same thing I guess).  The bus ended up arriving in LP at 430am.  The rest of the night I slept on a lawn chair in an enclosed garden at a guest house that was full.  As I fell asleep with my towel wrapped around me as a blanket I vowed to get better at this whole back packing thing.

Woman selling a giant hoof
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The next day I took easy, just walking around looking at vats (temples) and getting to know the town.  For Laos it is a big city, but it isn't that big - just 26,000 people, so says Lonely Planet.  Very picturesque with French colonial building and mountains, which are covered with mist in the mornings.  In the evening I visited a night market set up by people from the Hmong hill tribe each night.  It was pleasant to walk around looking at all the beautiful clothes, lanterns, trinkets, and oriental paintings.

A woman disembowling a duck while her neighbor sells shoes
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I arose early the next morning, Sunday, to the cries of very loud roosters who live next door.  I visited a morning market for breakfast, then decided to bike to a nearby Hmong village where a New Years festival was being held.  I say "nearby" but from a broken confused conversation with the guy renting the bike I discovered it was somewhere between 5 and 25km on the main road going North.  It ended up being closer to 30km, a scenic but brutal ride that took me 3 hours and up many many hills.  I did finally make it to the festival.  It wasn't huge, but was full of venders, girls dancing on a stage, and women (also a few men) wearing traditional Hmong outfits - very brightly colored (see pic).  There were very few westerners in the town, since it was a bit off the beaten track, and I enjoyed myself just sitting down and people watching.  I wasn't too eager to make the long journey by bike back to Luang Prabang.  I tried asking some girls who looked to be waiting for a bus if they were going to LP, which was very difficult with my bad beginners Lao language skills.  They laughed, but a guy standing near them (who is studying English at university) was going to LP and helped me get a ticket and load my bike on top of the bus.  For just $1 I was able to easily get back to LP with a bus load of others.

Hmong Village
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I'm planning to spend another day in LP, and then maybe venture to Nong Khiaw a few hours to the North.  Last night (Sunday) I had dinner with 2 Australian soldiers and a hippy girl from Ireland who mentioned a few places up in Northern Laos which sound interesting to visit.