Laos

At long last, I have found a decent enough Internet cafe to post some pictures of my journey so far. I left the islands in the south of Thailand for Laos about a week ago. It's a staggeringly beautiful country full of rivers, mountains, and caves to explore.

I've been spellunking about in Vangvienne. The mountainside is littered with caves large and small that have been used by monks and by peasants hiding from the Vietnam war (which, as I understand, spilled over into Laos a good deal). Above is Nangyuan island in Thailand.

This friendly monk bears a tattoo from his wild youth, which he tells me was centered around wine, women, and football (soccer). Now he spends all day in his quiet retreat behind a waterfall, reading, learning, and praying.

Poaching is still a problem, so the locals befriend tiger cubs and keep them locked in cages for the entirety of their natural lives. What's worse? Long life in a cage, or a short life free...

This is a real picture, of a real place--honest. I think there was a cosmic oversight on God's part to allow so much beauty in one place.

A drive-by photo taken from my rented bike as I searched for some caves to explore.

And the obligatory sunset photo. A fishing boat speeds past on the river as the sun sets. The Laotian mountains are gorgeous spire-like formations with sheer cliff faces, called karst peaks. It's truly otherwordly, like most of southeast Asia.

A Scanner Lacking

Against my will, I have decided to change the way I update my blog. While I liked the idea of having an analog journal, it is just too difficult to come across scanners where I am. So from this point forward, it's going to be text with images or photos thrown in when I'm feeling generous.

Since it has been a while since the last update, a quick rundown: I got to Thailand safely, about 3 weeks ago. I wasted no time in getting down to the island of Koh Tao where I was to meet my former-roommate-Steve for some freediving. We did that and it was fantastic. We learned to dive to 20 meters, or 65 feet, on a single breath of air. And we dove to shallower depths for extended periods of time.

My time as a full fledged tourist was a lot of fun, but I quickly realized what a toll it took on my finances. Since I was last in Thailand (2 years ago), the Thai baht strengthened and the dollar weakened, making what was once 20 dollars equal 30 dollars. Naturally, I didn't check how much I was really spending until I was well over my budget. So I had to come up with a quick plan to remedy my stupidity.

The plan: go to Laos. Laos is a country which borders Thailand on the north and east and has only been out of communism for a short time. It has a really interesting and sad history. It will be cheaper for me to live while I await my TEFL course in Thailand and it is also a really amazing place. My bus leaves in an hour for Vientienne, the capital city. I am not entirely sure where I'll go from there, but I'll keep you all updated.

For now, I'm off to have a bite to eat before heading out. Adios!