Laos

Learn to treat pleasure and pain the same. Why do I continue to pay to be tortured, and enjoy it? The journey to the Laos border was only the beginning to a week of pleasurable pain. Jackie and I were both sick and had to endure an even worse minivan ride through the endlessly winding roads of Thailand. My buddy Carl had his head out the window vomiting the entire 8 hours. We were able to catch about 2 hours of sleep and eat a piece of toast before jumping on a rickety wooden boat to cross the Mekong river into Laos.

Once in Laos, Jackie decided to end her travels and fly back to Korea. I pressed on with my plans and decided to play the rest by heart. It was tough to say goodbye to my travel partner, but she needed comfort and possible medical care. Sunday morning I set off with a group of 5 other people to the Bokeo Nature Reserve in Northern Laos. This is the home to The Gibbon Experience, and eco tourism forest conservation project. Basically, guests use the zip line cable network to search the forest for the illusive Black Gibbon. We spent three days zipping through the forest! Our Peter Pan family slept in a tree house about 100 meters high. Our tree house was awesome! The only entrance and exit were zip line! I can't even describe our house in words, unbelievable. Somehow, flying above the trees and living in a tree house brings out the 12 year old in all of us. The evenings turned incredible dark, super fast. We entertained ourselves with shadow puppet shows, blind late-night zip lines, and rice ball fights in the tree house! Although we never saw a Gibbon, we heard a family of them singing and they sounded like screaming fire trucks. It was a one in a life time experience that I will never forget.

 our tree house

 zip lining

I immediately headed from the forest to Luang Namtha where I was reunited with a group of friends from Spain. We decided to spend the day kayaking down the river and rapids. Even though my muscles were sore from 3 days trekking and zipping through the forest, and I had developed a rash over my entire body with swollen hands and feet from an allergic reaction to the antibiotic I was taking...I love kayaking and could not pass it up. It turned out to be the most beautiful river I have ever paddled! We stopped off at a couple local villages to explore as well!

 team spain

overlooking Luang Prabang

The next day, team Spain and I took another hellacious  minivan ride to the ancient capital of Luang Prabang. We spent our time exploring the old city ruins and enjoying each others company. I  feel so lucky and blessed to have met such amazing people during my travels, especially now as a solo traveler. The boys never leave me alone, carry my heavy bags, and constantly make sure I am comfortable and safe. They offered to let me join them for the remainder of my adventure, however I feel the best decision is to cut my journey short and head back to the United States.

This morning was full of tearful good-byes from the Spanish team. I now begin my long journey home.