Night shots from Da Nang

Pictures From Da Nang

Pics From Vietnam

Charlie and I decided to skip the overnight bus from Vientiane to Hanoi after reading a few scathing reviews online (apparently tourists buses are a favored way to smuggling goods, we thought it'd be best to avoid any boarder issues,) and took a quick flight instead. 
Hanoi is bat-sh*t crazy. It's loud, the air quality is terrible, the traffic is absolute mayhem and someone tried to take my shoe at one point. However, with that all being said, Hanoi is one of my favorite places so far. The whole vibe of the city is has a great vibe and there's no shortage of good food to try. We checked out a water puppet show (they charge extra for pictures so I didn't take any,) went to a prison museum, the war museum, at lots of the aforementioned great food and we also took a trip out to Halong bay. 

As I write this were on a sleeper train to Da Nang... it's... well lets just say the beds leave much to be desired but its a really cool way to get around none-the less. 

Pictures and Videos from Vang Vieng

Shompoo Cruise

After the Gibbon experience we took a two day slow-boat cruise from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang with a stop in Pakbeng. After hiking around in the jungle for a few days it was really nice to kick back and relax. We booked with Shompoo which is one of the more expensive lines, I guess the price scared off most of the other tourists because we practically had the entire boat to ourselves.
Totally worth it.

Mineral deposit from one the caves we stopped at.

The Gibbon Experience.

For Christmas Charlie booked us a trip to the Gibbon experience, a nature tour where you get to hike out into the jungles of Laos, zip-line across valleys and hopefully see some gibbons. Everything about the trip was intense so if you're afraid of heights, bugs, bats, or any other manner of creepy-crawlers you might not enjoy this one. That all being said, we had a blast. The zip-lining feels like flying and I actually got to see one of gibbons while our group was zip-lining. We also made a new friend named Finn 'the giant fucking spider' who was literally as big as my hand.  Another really cool (and kinda scary) part was on our second night when a storm rolled in after we had all gone to bed. Charlie and I woke up to the sound of thunder and we we'rent sure if we would have to evacuate the tree house. We all waited out the storm and everything was cool after that.

All in all it was a great experience, if you think you can take the bugs and the hiking, it's totally worth it.

One of the monkeys we saw on the first day.

The view from our tree house on the second day.

The White Temple and Goodbye to Thailand

Yesterday we went to the white temple before we left for the boarder to Laos and it was my favorite temple in all of Thailand. I wish I could go there at sun-set/rise for some better pictures but even in bright daylight the temple is very striking. We signed a lucky silver leaf which will get added to all the others.

The ride to the boarder was a little rough but we got good seats at the back of the bus so we had lots of breeze and legroom. From here we go to the Gibbon Experience in the jungle and then after that we're taking a long boat down the Mekong river, so it might be a while before the next post.

Elephants!

On my birthday Charlie and I went to an elephant sanctuary for the day. We got to feed, swim and throw mud on the pachyderms, we also got a lunch and got to swim on our own in a waterfall! All in all a really good day.
After the elephants we went for dinner at a fancy transplanted french bistro which was rally nice as well!

Here's where we got to swim, it was COLD.

Pai in the sky

Nothing like being sick can make you appreciate being well again. Charlie and I trekked out from Chang Mai to Pai with the intention of staying at a circus hostel, exploring caves and all the other great parts of Pai... then we ate some poison Pad Thai. 

We literally spent the entire time in Pai locked up in our room too sick to move. If you travel long enough these things are bound to happen, but it still sucks that we came all the way out here and all we got to experience was a jarring car ride and 24 hours of gastrointestinal hell.

I really like this picture of the sunset I got though!

Pictures from Chiang Mai