Charlie here we come

Tomorrow we fly to Vietnam. We had to leave our new found British friends behind yesterday. They will continue to drink themselves stupid in Laos and Thailand. To them this trip is like spring break for us... so imagine a bunch of drunk dudes in Daytona but you can't understand what they say- even though they're speaking your language. They were a good time though and we hope we can see them again.

<-- View from our Guest House balcony

The Namsong River was a great time. Even though it took all my money from me, my driver's license, my cross, and some of my dignity, I would recommend it to any other travellers I see. The first day on the river we went tubing. Tubing is like bar hoping but instead of walking to the next bar, you float on a tractor tube. After a small Laotian child ropes you into the bar you can enjoy many activities such as: zip line (see video), rope swing, volleyball, mud soccer, dancing, and drinking! It really was a good time. I hope some Lao dude finds my $100 and buys himself a nice herd of cattle and maybe a wife included.

We kayaked the day after tubing. One of the stops on our kayaking trip was at an underwater cave. We had to swim under rocks and surface on the inside of a cave with about 2 or 3 feet of space above us. It was really freaky- the guide didn't allow us to go too far because the cave could have filled with water at any moment and trapped us! We had head lamps on to see in the dark, but we could never see the end of the cave- the light just faded into darkness. We were hoping for some serious rapids on the kayaks but found none. There was a section that dominated all other kayaks, but we're proud to say that team America stayed afloat. It wasn't until the end of our journey that the (jealous) Brits boarded our kayak and successfully capsized our vessel. We shrugged that off and reminded them of how much they owe us for WWII. So later that night they gave Nick a t-shirt... I guess we're even.

Our last adventure on the Namsong was at a river bar. Seems pretty typical and not really adventurous, but this bar was different. People were dancing, some were raving, and some were dancing with fire! These people brought there own fire torches on chains and fuel and just started dancing among everyone else. It was hilarious.

So, off to Vietnam. Enjoy the pictures and video.

Nick vs. Zipline