Laos!!!

I'm in Luang Prabang right now...that's in Laos. I couldn't point to Laos on a map before I got here, but now I have spent two days floating down the Mekong river across Laos, and touring around a Laotian village and town. In Luang Prabang there is quite a bit of French influence because of the French occupation last century. But it's interesting because it's mixed with Asian culture as well. So what you get is the most amazing baguettes ever, quaint French architecture embedded into Southeast Asian radiance. Yesterday I had the opportunity to offer alms to the monks who walk the streets early, early in the morning collecting sticky rice. The streets were covered in bright orange and yellow as hundreds of monks made their way through the streets. We visited a gorgeous Buddhist shrine located in a cave at the base of a huge limestone cliff. The food is really good; they use a lot of fish, however, I finally got the dreaded Southeast Asian food sickness. That wasn't fun. Today we went to a huge waterfall. Beautiful! It's pretty amazing here and tomorrow I fly to Vietnam! Wahoo!