Today I slept in a bit later than usual, took my shower, and packed my bag. I didn't need to check out until noon so I left my bag packed and ready to go in my room and went out for breakfast. I had one of the best croissant I have ever had in my life and wrote my second set of post cards. I walked around Luang Prabang , the sun was already hot at 9am and the sky was clear. I did some window shopping and then went to settle my guest house bill and pick up my bag.
My bag was pretty full with the presents I had picked up and though it wasn't heavy it was a bit cumbersome so instead of walking around some more I watched my favorite group of petanque players play another excellent match and then wandered around looking for something to do. I didn't need to be at the bus station until 6:30pm (my bus was leaving at 7:30pm) and so I had hours until I needed to be any where.
I ended up taking another boat ride. I wanted to take another ride because it was such a beautiful day and I love being on the water. I didn't take the boat to anywhere just down the Mekong along part of the Nam Khan and then back. Today's picture is actually from where the rivers meet. I like this picture because the division of the water is so clear an I've never seen anything like it before. The boat ride was really lovely, I took a bunch of pictures, had a fun chat with my boatman, and was invited to swim with a group of kids who were climbing a tree and jumping into the river. I didn't join the kids but they were really funny and fearless! They were jumping off a tree so high that it made me nervous about heights just watching them.
After my boat ride I went for a walk and ran into some of my monk friends. I sat and had a chat for about an hour and then went in search of some lunch. I still had an hour and a half to kill after my late lunch so I decided that even though I wasn't planning on doing any serious climbing with my big bag I would make one more visit to Phu Si and sit on my perch at the look out and just relax and write letters and say goodbye to Luang Prabang.
The weather was still beautiful and there was a refreshing breeze once I reached the top. I sat alone for a half hour or so and then one of my friends came by, we chatted for a bit and then he left. I guess when he left he told the other guys that I was there and so a few of them came to say goodbye and I got to say goodbye to my good friend Link as well.
At 6:30pm I went to the bus station to catch my "VIP" night bus to Vientiane. I find it funny the definition of "VIP" in Asia. I don't get stressed out by low quality transportation, I'm short and don't need to concern myself too much about leg-room issues etc... I'm actually very amused at transportation mishaps since I've had so many and the standards are sometimes not what I would expect. Ok, so this bus was packed all of the seats were taken, they packed the isle in the back full with bicycles, bags of veggies and fruit and other miscellaneous crates (thus blocking off the bathroom entirely) and then in the remaining isle space they put out plastic stools and more people got on the bus and sat on these stools for a 10.5hour night time bus ride! There was a guy on a plastic stool beside my seat so we shared my armrest and leaned on each other for the whole ride. I should have brought a sweater with me because someone opened the roof hatch and the cool mountain air was blowing on my for hours making me so cold that it was hard to sleep. I wasn't feeling fantastic for the ride but this time the curvy road didn't make me feel woozy at least and I did manage to get some sleep. Around one in the morning we had a fifteen minute stop and I was able to get up and stretch a bit. After the stop someone closed the hatch and the cold air stopped blowing on me and I was able to doze for the rest of the way into Vientiane.
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