After checking into the hotel, we got a couple hours to hang out before dinner. I got to room with Laura again, which I was happy about because she was a great roommate in Vientiane. There were 2 beds in the room- one king and one twin and Laura offered to sleep on the twin. Since we had a couple hours, I used the wifi and tried to take a nap in my huge bed.

At 7:30 we walked to a restaurant nearby. It was outside (like everything is) and had 2 tv's and a pool table. I unfortunately sat at the table with lots of smokers so I got to suck in some pleasant chemicals before my dinner arrived.

A few people ordered a beer tower which only cost about $5 and gave each of them a beer and a half. I stuck with coke. We ordered our food and to make a long story short, some people waited 1 hour and 45 minutes for their dinner which was only a mini "pizza."

I ordered the chicken Tom Yam soup which is just a simple vegetable broth with veggies and chicken. At only $2 a bowl, I was pretty excited once it came time to pay the bill.

I got my soup quickly and ate quickly. I wasn't really talking with anyone at the table so when a couple people started to leave I got up to pay and lead the way back to the hotel, only after stopping by a supermarket to pick up necessary items: Reese's peanut butter cups and gum.

It was pouring rain when we got back to the hotel. I put in my ear plugs because the rain on the tin roofs is noisy. I climbed into bed under my mosquito net and called it a night.

This morning I woke up around 8 and headed to breakfast. Laura said she didn't feel well and wanted to stay in bed. I met a couple of the other girls downstairs. They said despite the rain, they were still going kayaking so I decided I would, too. Laura said she was going to stay behind so I met everyone downstairs before heading out.

We rode on benches in the back of a covered truck about 20 minutes up the river. When we got out it was totally pouring rain and my "waterproof" jacket wasn't preventing water from drenching me.

Our guide reviewed how to use the paddle and warned us that if we tip over to grab the boat and flip it back over. We put our belongings into dry bags and attached our flip flops to the bags. I was partnered with Paula (from Chicago.)

The river was super high from the rain so the water was moving fast. We set off down the river. The water was extremely brown and fast moving. We approached some fairly decent rapids a few times which we handled like pros! About an hour later we stopped at a bar along the river to have a drink break. Apparently the river used to be popular with tourists who would float down in tubes. People would get drunk at the bars and do crazy stuff like jump onto rocks and injure or kill themselves so apparently tubing isn't really allowed anymore. Luckily, there were no shenanigans like that today.

After the break we got back into the kayaks to head back toward our hotel. The scenery was lush and green and reminded me of Jurassic Park. There were people along the river fishing with huge fishing nets but they didn't seem to be catching anything. We finally made it back to our hotel and the rain had just started to let up.

We were all soaked so we decided to take showers and meet for lunch at 1. For lunch, we went to a restaurant run by some Brits called the Jungle. The server warned us that she only had 2 people working today so our food would take a while. She was right. My beef noodle soup took about 45 minutes. Another girl's fruit and yogurt took 1 hour. My pineapple drink only took 15 minutes though, so it wasn't too bad.

After lunch we walked back toward the hotel. We stopped to get ice cream (Magnums... Yum!) and I picked up a pair of Havianas flip flops for $3. I also looked in a jewelry shop because I wanted to find a necklace or bracelet with Buddha on it. I found a bracelet but it was about $7, which is pretty expensive for Laos do I decided to wait until Chiang Mai where things are cheaper.

At the hotel I decided it was nap time. Two hours later I woke up feeling hungover without the fun of even having a drink! We met for dinner around 7:30 and walked to a really nice restaurant about 15 minutes away. I ordered chicken and veggie skewers with a sweet sauce. It came with fries and a salad and it was delish! It also only too about 20 mins. to arrive!

We walked back to the hotel where I was able to pack my bags and use the wifi. Laura and I decided to go to bed around 10:30. I was pretty tired so I knew that waking up at 7:30 would give me a really good opportunity to catch up on sleep.

Until next time!