With minimal kerfuffle, we arrived in Ranong and even found Ryan. We spent the night and then headed to Koh Payam (not to be confused with Koh PhaNgan) the next morning. What a wonderful place to relax for a couple of weeks. This was the place we had been hoping to find for many years!! The beach was beautiful and relaxing. There were almost no tourists there at all, which was quite a contrast to the full moon party (not that we went to it) scene of Pha Ngan...

Ryan and I spent a few days in Bangkok doing some shopping. Ryan finally got his dread locks put in, wincing and grimacing through the entire thing; it was very amusing. Once I could pick myself up off the floor from laughing we got on a train- actually two different trains. I headed down to Koh Pha Ngan to meet up with Cheryl and Lara while Ryan took off for the other coast. We spent about ten days on Pha Ngan starting on the quiet and rustic north coast ...

When we got back from our trek, we spent a day going to a waterfall. It was very beautiful and we climbed up to the top where there was a little spot to swim. We jumped off the rocks from ten feet up, which was kind of fun, but a little scary, too. It's always nerve racking swallowing (or taking up the nose) river water from a remote Asian country. It was a very wet day, but that was just a prelude for what was to come. Cheryl and Lara, once again avoidi...

After a few too many days in VV (due to some upset tummies) we finally made our way up north to Luang Prabang. The drive was long, but at least it allowed us to see a little more of rural Laos. We passed village after village on our six-hour journey. It was time to get out to the hill tribes we'd heard so much about, so we went looking for a guide. Much like Vietnam, it had become abundantly clear that we were not going to follow the tourist masses; when ...

We hung out for awhile with Lara and caught up on the last couple months then met up with friends, Josh and Claire who just happened to be travelling in Laos at the same time, for dinner. It was great seeing some faces from home. Ryan then finally arrived by land from Bangkok the following day. We finally got all our sight-seeing done in Vientiane. There's not much to say about capital city really. It's extremely small and sits on the Mekong River. Ther...