Ok, so this is why I travel...

Ok, so Laos is more connected than orginally anticipated, so here I am again.
The guidebook says that most people breathe and audible sigh of relief once they enter Laos. And let's just say I don't know that I've ever fallen in love so fast. Life kicks down about 20 notches once you're here. It's so beautiful it literally almost brings me to tears - tropical, lush green, rolling mountains and thached roof houses everywhere. And no one is in a hurry to do anything. On our four hour bus ride to Luang Nan Th from the border at Boten, we ran into some road construction and everyone simply got out of their cars and gathered on the roadside for a cigarette and and some sunflower seeds. We sat in the sun, surrounded by banana trees and children playing in the street, until the road was passable. People stare at us here, too, but at least they smile. And children smile, rather than cry, when I say hello (or saw-wat-dee). We were kip-less (kip is the currency here) until we got to Luang Nam Th and were also very hungry. A very nice man must have picked up on this and stopped the bus at one point and ran down and brought us all back some sticky rice and cured meat. It was so good! We were so grateful. Most people have been so unbelievably kind to us on the road.
The other really nice thing about Laos- very affordable. Carolyn and I have a double room that cost us 30,000 kip (or US$3) for the entire room - with a balcony and insuite bathroom - with hot water until 11pm!
I half-joked to Carolyn today that we may just never even make it to Thailand. Her reply, "I might be okay with that..."
There's something about this place that makes me want to simple find a spot, unroll my sleeping bag, set up my clothes line and never leave. The pace of life is splendid here. The food is good (I hate to break it to you, but the food in China was pretty uneventful - and not as tasty as the Chinese restaurants back home...) and there is local tropical fruit at the markets. Our first day here has been so great... there was a very nice english speaking man at the border and during our hour wait for the bus to leave, we had a nice little language exchange - he taught us a few helpful phrases in exchange for a little english. He was the most studious man... he had a Laos-English dictionary that he was memorizing and he had conversation practice everyday at the border.
Tomorrow Carolyn and I will rent some bicycles and cycle to some of the local hill-tribe villages and hopefully book a two-day trekking tour into the national park. we want to trek here because the programs are designed to be sustainable - both to the evironment and the local peoples - over 30% of the money goes right back into the local economy and tribes. This is a much better system than Thailand which, from what we understand, exploits the local region simply for profit.
Once again, I feel like I'm barely touching on my experiences here - there is simply so much that happens each day and so many stories to tell. But I've just been told that the power goes out sometimes, so I should save this so I don't lose it. I hope you all are doing well. Rest assured, we're doing great - much better than in China - and I'll soak up a few Laos rays for you!

Much Love,
Meagan

ps. We'll probably be in Laos for about a week, I'll touch base again before we leave.