Laos-y!

We ended Thailand trip #1 (there will be two) with a 4 island snorkeling cruise off of Koh Chang

*Note: 'Koh' means island! and 'Chang' means Elephant!

and yes... there are elephants on the island!
none that we rode... but they're there!
Not wild... just hanging out.

The islands were beautiful! The water and the beach were (surprisingly) exactly what they showed us on the brochure!
Snorkeling was fun for about an hour, but truth be told, Stu and I would've been satisfied after island #1.
BUT, lying on the very front of the boat in my bikini with the sun beating down on me? There is really nothing better.
Wait, the only thing that could be better would be if I had pineapple and watermelon...
and I had pineapple.
And watermelon.

Are you jealous?

After our day long trip out on the blue blue sea, we decided to go out for Mexican! We'd been craving Mexican and talking about it for an hour...

we walked and walked and walked only to find a:

"CLOSED ON MONDAYS" sign.

It was Monday.
and it was closed.

We ended up eating great thai food though and got a spicy spicy salad from a street vendor on our way home. Yum!

Our LONGEST trip yet:

We rose at 6:30...
took a taxi at 7:30...
Got on a ferry at 8:30...
Arrived at Trat at 9:30...
waited for a bus until 11:15
rode a bus to bangkok until 6:15...
got on ANOTHER bus at 7:00 pm...

Next day:
got to the Thai border...
switched buses...
and arrived in Vientiane at 9:30 am.

VERY long journey, but here we are: Laos! Never thought we'd see the day!

Laos is aces all 'round.
Our place is nice and has breakfast included along with coffee all day and cake in the afternoon.

We had some mean Indian food for lunch and walked around the city.

Laos has the 'best coffee in the world' so iced coffee prices are out of this world!
You would not believe how many tourists are here if I told you.
You are thinking: Laos? Really? Wait, where is that? Is that a city? (at least I'm sure some of my friends are googling 'Laos' wondering where on the map it is) but out here in SE Asia, everyone is either going to Laos or talking about it.

So now that we're here, we'll probably rent bikes tomorrow and venture out. We both had a bit of a rough sleep last night so maybe we'll just take 'er easy this evening.

So nice to settle down again for 2 days in our 'new home' !