Friday, October 31, 2008

Slow Boat to Thailand

We left Luang Prabang on a two day cruise up the Mekong River headed to Thailand. Day 1 was very cool. It was a lot of fun to be on the river, I spent a lot of time listening to my i-pod, leaning off of the side of the boat watching the scenery pass by. Day 2 was not so great. Our boat had wooden benches instead of cushy seats, and being on a boat had lost its novelty after the 10 hours spent on one the day before. Also, the beds in our guest house were reminsicent of partical board, an unfortunate trend that lasted for four consecutive nights, until we moved to our second guest house in Chang Mai. I did not love Thailand until I got a good night sleep last night. We haven't done anything really exciting here yet, except for the fact that everything we eat is amazing! Once we crossed the boarder into Thailand, we jumped on a bus to Chang Rai, where we ate lunch and hopped on a second bus for Chang Mai. I sat immediately behind a monk for that trip, and we chatted a bit and mostly exchanged smiles during the ride. I have never before in my life encountered a person that seem to radiate good karma like that. I can't really put it into words, but it felt as though all of my bad vibes from the gross guesthouse rooms and the LONG boat ride blew right out the window, merely as a result of sitting behind someone like that. Since arriving in Chang Mai, Mikaela and I haven't done much. I have been spending a lot of time online, trying to complete the last of my applications to grad school. The end is in sight! I will try to finish the Laos photo albulm and write more about Chang Mai once we start to get out and about.

3 comments:

ridgway said...
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ridgway said...

My name is Kyle, I think we may have met a long long time ago. I have been friends with anna hoover since we went to highschool together. She told me you were blogging from southeast asia and I wanted to stop by and say hi! Me and my girlfriend are flying into bangkok in 3 days so I wanted to see what your take on this part of the world has been so far! Well be spending time mostly in thailand, laos and cambodia, maybe well run into you, haha. Keep posting! Cheers!

Aunt Bev said...

I'm really enjoying your blog and photos:-)