First stop in Laos

Where is Rachael now?: Back in snowy Shanghai

I'm back in Shanghai now. Today was my first day of teaching for the second semester. Of course, I woke up to snow of the ground and heavy flakes falling. Good to be back, though I had hoped to be past the winter.

Anyways,

After riding elephants in northern Thailand, I found it a good time to cross over to Laos. Typically, people take a two day slow boat ride down the Mekong, which serves as the border, to get to the northern-most big Lao town of Luang Prabang. The ride is known for its beauty and discomfort. I was ready to find a place and stay there for awhile since my schedule had been very rapid thus far.  So I saddled up for 20 hours on a bus. First we drove through Chiang Rai, visiting one of the coolest Buddhist temples, The White Temple (Wat Rong Khun).  It is made entirely of white plastic with mirrored mosaics to represent the purity of Buddha.

At the border (I was dreading another long wait out in the sun), we were hustled across the river and through quick lines. Welcome to Laos! Now back on the bus! Before, I had taken 'sleeper buses' where the seats reclined and we, well, slept. But here was a whole new level on the 'sleeping bus'. They were actual cots. Three rows of bunkbeds were crammed in the bus. I looked at my ticket and headed for the back. But instead of getting a narrow cot to myself my ticket indicated that I would be sleeping in the back row made up of 5 cots all together with only narrow metal loops to keep us from getting cosy with our new neighbors. I had an older French man to my right, two American girls to my left, and another French man to the left of them. Cozy. My slot was also where you climbed up so throughout the night my mattress (and legs) slowly slid towards the floor. I was thankful to make friends with the American girls from San Fran and Bend, OR. They provided jokes and melatonin to get through the night. My French neighbor provided snores and complaints. What a riot. 

Made it to Luang Prabang, Laos. Similar to Chiang Mai, we sipped coffee and watched the young monks collect alms as we waited for hostels to open. I splurged with a room (plus bathroom!) to myself. I went back to sleep.