the first few days in laos

laos is so beautiful. for those who don't know where it is, it is just north of cambodia. we stayed in 4 thousand islands for a few days. we took the tiniest boat out to the island. we also took another tiny boat out to see dolphins! ah, yes dolphins, these are not pacific coast dolphins, but they are still cute, even from a distance, like a far distance.

now, our last evening in our hotel rebecca, clarissa, and i were sitting in the hotel room having a bit of an inner battle. we didn't bring towels and also needed more flip flops. the hotel offered us both. we were deciding whether or not to take them with us (without asking) when all of the sudden we saw something horrible. there was a giant (like the size my hand, which belongs to someone 5'8" so you can just guess from that) SPIDER on the bed! it almost crawled on all of us! rebecca and i ran outside and clarissa was suck inside the room because the spider was between her and the door and she didn't want it to eat her if she tried to pass it. i came in-between them to take a picture of the nasty creature and she was able to run out. i didn't get the picture though because that thing was FAST! ewe so gross, I'm getting the shivers just writing about it. naturally we screamed so loud that everyone heard us. even the monkey thing in the cage across the yard heard us and started going bazzurk! the maids were cleaning next door and came in to offer us help. we were outside the room during the deed so we didn't see everything. upon reentry we saw a massive brown splosh on the sheets. we never saw the body though, just a few legs in the dirt. i did, however, notice that one of the maids mouth was very suspicious following the execution. she kept it rather tight while talking to and laughing at us. i would try to keep my mouth closed too if i had brown goo coming out of it and on my lips.... i will never know for sure what made that dark stain on the woman's mouth, but i can guess. she is brave.

naturally, we took this as a sign that we should not take the towels or shoes. i forgot that i was wearing the shoes while we were packing and they ended up on my feet after we left anyway. oops. they are too small too, but i still wear them.

one perk of traveling cheaply in southeast asia: you get to ride in a van with 16 official seats with 26 people in the van. we also had 2 guys holding on outside that van. for hours. i have tried to open the window on every single bus/van we have take here. without fail, the drivers have asked me to close them every time. like, they are obsessed with the air con. that sounds great, but not when 3 passengers are hacking up their lungs and probably a gallon of phelm and one old man keeps trying to smoke.

yes, riding my bike through this was an adventure. a beautiful, muddy adventure that almost stole one of the chocos i was wearing.

thanks laos, you're a babe.

my favorite thing in southeast asia has to be the spelling. "don't be such a memmaid". this is now my comment anytime someone is behaving in any kind of a memmaid way.

he told us the entire story of buddha

i want you to meet someone very special to me. this is cheryl. while we were wandering the streets, cheryl found us. she is the cutest and sweetest thing, plus she is really good at eating things in a way that melts your heart. she followed me around an entire evening, even into a mall. eventually, she went her own way. when we returned to the hotel a few days later, she found us again. my friends told me to come downstairs and i knew it was cheryl. i called her name and apparently she got super excited when she heard my voice. yup, a true connection. and the thing about true connections and true love is that you can't separate very easily. she found her way into the elevator and into our hotel room. i was reprimanded by rebecca, for good reason i know. after a little r'n'r, a few crackers, and fresh water, we put her in the hall for the night. well she started pawing at the door (ever so gently). my heart couldn't take this, so we had to go back downstairs. when the guy at the desk saw us he asked if this was my dog. i didn't answer. i just started talking about how cute she was. i asked if she could stay in the lobby for the night. he didn't say no, but he didn't say yes. anyway, after a heart to heart, i explained to cheryl why we had to go our separate ways. she will always be in my heart.

cool giant buddhas

this also happened. no, she didn't eat this one. clarissa did, however, eat a moth later that week for 75 cents. this woman is for real.